Prince George RCMP have arrested a youth suspected of posting an online threat against a local high school.
Mounties said he was apprehended Thursday at about 10:40 a.m. and taken to the detachment. They followed up about three-and-a-half hours later by executing a search warrant on a home in the city.
“No firearms or evidence of a legitimate threat were located,” RCMP said.
D.P. Todd secondary school was targeted in a posting on Instagram. It showed images of guns, posted to an account with the name “dptoddisnext” and with a message that read “they are gonna [expletive] pay for what they did.”
Police received several reports of the posting on Wednesday evening that suggested violence would take place on Tuesday, once the school had reopened following the end of spring break. The posts were taken down shortly afterwards.
“The youth will be released on strict conditions including not to have access to computer devices or the internet,” police said. “He will attend court at a future date to answer to charges.”
The images were determined to be stock images pulled from the internet, Prince George RCMP Cpl. Craig Douglass said earlier in the day.
“There is no reason to believe this is a credible threat, but we are treating it as if it could be and we are continuing on with the investigation,” he said.
Marilyn Marquis-Forster, superintendent of schools for District 57, said parents initially alerted RCMP authorities of the postings on Wednesday night. The district has been in touch with administration and staff of D.P. Todd since early Thursday morning, she said.
“Whenever we have incidents of violent risk threat, we have a response, we have a risk threat response. We will go through that process, in this case the same way we do with every other case,” Marquis-Forster said.
“The processes worked well today.”
Marquis-Forster would not speculate as to what might have caused an individual to post these threatening messages online. She said the district is cooperating with the RCMP in their investigation.
“Often the week coming up to Easter in schools – people are tired of the winter,” she said.
“That doesn’t justify any of this. It does, however, in schools, make us diligent to ensure we’re ready to respond and to support.”
In a press release, Prince George RCMP said they wanted “to thank the many people that reported this incident to police, especially the youth of our community that recognize this is a serious concern and made the right choice.”
