RCMP investigate threatening note found at Forest Heights school

RCMP say a note found in a washroom at Forest Heights Community School in Chester Basin making apparent threats appears to be a hoax.

Provincial spokesman Cpl. Dal Hutchinson said Monday afternoon that police have wrapped up their investigation and don’t believe there was any actual intent to carry through on the threat in the note, which indicated there would be a shooting.

“We’ve determined that there is no risk to students or the public, and we are doing a thorough investigation,” he said.

He said the note had a ripple effect on students and the school, and “people need to stop and think twice before they do something... like this.”

He said he thinks police are close to finding out who wrote the note, and charges are possible.

Sgt. Mark MacPherson with Lunenburg District RCMP said Monday morning that police only became aware of the note Sunday.

He said the note had “a couple of comments that would lead people to believe that it was something of concern,” referencing violence at the grades 9-12 school.

He said a couple of marked cars were at the school Monday morning, along with the local school safety resource officer.

“There were a number of youth who became aware of this note before we did and started talking about it on social media, so we’re just trying to track that down,” he said.

While the note is of concern, he said, there was no apparent imminent threat.

“The note wasn’t addressed to anyone in particular, it looks like it might have just been discarded, so we’re being cautious here and trying to cover all the bases,” MacPherson said.

He said the note was found by a custodian at the school.

South Shore Regional School Board spokeswoman Theresa Schroder the custodian passed the note — which said there was going to be a shooting — on to the principal, who reviewed the school’s security footage. But she said the board office only became aware of the note Sunday night, the day the RCMP were contacted.

She said a notice wasn’t sent to parents right away because of that.

“That’s something we’re going to regroup on,” she said.

A notice did go up on the school board’s website later Monday morning.

“We do apologize for the delay,” Schroder said. She said board will be going over procedures with employees on how to deal with such situations in the future.

She said quite a few parents kept their children home on Monday.

“We understand that completely,” she said. “It’s their child’s safety, and we’re doing everything we can to ensure their safety too.”