Hundreds of kids stayed home from one Kitchener high school on Wednesday due to a threatened school shooting, while police warned about the danger of copycat threats at other schools.
The first threat was made last week against Huron Heights Secondary School. Written on a bathroom stall, it claimed that there would be a school shooting on March 28.
Fear that the person who left the message might follow through on it kept many students home on Wednesday.
Grade 10 student Seth Johnson described a “solemn” atmosphere inside the school, with only eight of 30 kids showing up for his math class.
Other students said teachers were closing and in some cases locking their doors as precautionary measures. Police officers were seen in the school’s hallways.
Lance Abbott, a Grade 10 student, said he considered the threat “more of a prank or a joke” meant to give some people a day off of school.
“It’s more of a trend … than a real threat,” he said.
Police say they treat every anonymous threat as serious, given there is no way to prove any other intent.
“Whether it’s considered to be a joke or a prank, it’s not funny,” Waterloo Regional Police spokesperson Cherri Greeno said Wednesday.
“We aren’t taking it as a joke. We’re not taking it as a prank.”
As news of the first threat made its way to other schools, other threats popped up.
Threatening messages were found at Glenview Park Secondary School and Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, somebody left graffiti on the Eastwood Collegiate Institute property claiming they were going to “blow up the school” the following day.
Police say they believe this week’s threats are copycats, inspired by the original message at Huron Heights.
In any case, they say, the threats are straining police resources and increasing fear of crime in the community.
With reporting by Natalie van Rooy
