Judge Orders Mental Evaluation in McKinleyville High Threat Case

A federal judge has ordered Tyler Leroy Hilbert to undergo a psychological evaluation before the McKinleyville High threat case can move ahead, adding another pause to a prosecution that still hangs over families in McKinleyville more than two years after the first lockdowns.

Hilbert, of Calhoun, Missouri, was indicted Jan. 27, 2026 and arrested by the FBI the next day, Jan. 28, after federal authorities tied him to repeated threats made against McKinleyville High School in November and December 2023. The case now centers not on guilt or innocence, but on whether Hilbert is mentally competent to stand trial and understand the charges against him.

The original crisis began Nov. 28, 2023, when McKinleyville High School and neighboring Morris Elementary School were placed on lockdown after a report of a possibly armed man near campus. More threats followed over the next 10 days. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said there were at least six calls, including reports on Dec. 5 that the caller had a weapon, had planted a bomb in the rear parking lot and was going to shoot people. Investigators said the calls came from out of state.

Sheriff’s officials described the threats as an elaborate hoax meant to disrupt students, and said there was no current threat to McKinleyville High School once the investigation advanced. Detectives used database searches, interviews, coordination with multiple law-enforcement partners and search warrants to identify Hilbert, according to the sheriff’s office. The FBI’s Kansas City Division took custody of him after the arrest.

The toll on the community was immediate. During a Dec. 8, 2023 press conference, parents spoke of fear and frustration, some in tears, while school leaders acknowledged that attendance had dropped during the run of threats. The sheriff’s office later said the disruptions caused “disruption, panic, distress and emotional turmoil,” language that captured how a string of phone calls rattled an entire school community.

The competency hearing now becomes a checkpoint in a broader accountability story. For McKinleyville families, the case is not just about a defendant in Missouri; it is about how repeated school-threat hoaxes can force children out of classrooms, pull officers and school staff into emergency mode, and leave parents waiting years for answers about who made their schools unsafe and why.