A 17 year-old male will be in Youth Court this afternoon facing four charges, including Uttering Threats, after an incident overnight in which a person issued a social media message threatening to kill students and staff at a high school.
At approximately 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 29, 2018, police learned of a message that was circulating on Snapchat, a mobile app for Android and iOS devices. The message indicated a potential threat to students and staff at a high school. As the message was shared, information was added indicating the potential threats were directed at Martin Collegiate. Throughout the night, investigators spoke with a number of people to try to trace their way back to the originator of the message in order to identify the potential suspect. Additional investigative tasks included finding the suspect, taking him into custody and conducting more investigation to determine whether or not the message posed a real and imminent threat to public safety. While the investigation was underway, the original message was widely shared on other social media platforms, creating tremendous anxiety in our community. At one point, the message included mention of other high schools in the city being included in the threat. At approximately 12:30 a.m. police located a male youth and took him into custody as a suspect in this investigation. After further investigation, the male youth was arrested and charged. It was determined the threats occurred, and investigation is continuing. Police believe the situation is resolved and there is no further danger to the schools’ staff, students and families, or the public.
The youth cannot be named in accordance with the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. The youth is charged with two charges of Uttering Threats [264.1(1)(a) CC], Breach of Undertaking and Fail to Comply with Court-ordered Condition. The youth will make his first court appearance on these charges in Youth Court at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, November 30, 2018.
