Police investigate alleged firearm threat at KISH
Principal, police say no firearms were found or confiscated in Tuesday incident
No firearms were found Tuesday after police were called to Kensington Intermediate Senior High school following a threat at the Prince County school.
Officials have confirmed a threat had been made, verbally and through social media, but Kensington Police Services say no firearms were found. According to a parent, a boy had brought a gun into the school and threatened a student. Police Chief Lewis Sutherland said Wednesday no such incident occurred.
“We have other files on the go at the school. But there was no such occurrence. No firearms were confiscated from the school.
A couple of lockers were searched. Right now, we are satisfied that there were no firearms.”
Sutherland says he spoke with a few students about the report, and none have come forward to say they had seen a firearm.
“It’s not a common occurrence in Kensington, but we see things like this going on across the world. And sometimes students feel frustrated or stressed and don’t realize what they are saying.”
Donald Mulligan, principal of KISH, also confirmed that no firearms had been found in the school. “Administration became aware of verbal and social media threats made to a student earlier this week.” Mulligan says the incident occurred near the end of the school day Tuesday and staff followed Public Schools Branch procedures.
“The safety of all of our students is a priority at KISH. We are committed to a safe learning environment for all of our students.”
He said police were called and an investigation was started.
“The students involved are at home now, and we have branch counsellors completing an initial threat assessment. That will take some time, and they will create a re-entry plan for the students.” Mulligan says he has not received calls from parents except for those directly involved in the incident, and concluded that incidents like this are not common.