Tense return to classes at St-Hyacinthe high school

Two St-Hyacinthe high school students who allegedly plotted to kill three classmates and rape another are slated to attend a bail hearing Tuesday.

The boys, aged 14 and 16, were arrested and charged last Thursday with three counts of conspiracy to commit murder and assault. Police say they were warned of the alleged plot by one of the suspects’ mothers, who was disturbed by her son’s online activity.

A search of the suspects’ locker uncovered a knife and a large quantity of sleeping pills, which police claim would have been used to drug a female classmate and sexually assault her.

On Monday, the local school board released a statement by the École Polyvalente Hyacinthe-Delorme principal, who said the institution acted right away when informed of the apparent plot.

“When the suspicions of a conspiracy were brought to our attention by the parent of one of the two (accused)... we immediately told provincial police,” said principal Nancy Prevereault. “That’s when an investigation was triggered.”

Prevereault credited solid communication between the parents of the alleged victims and those of the accused.

After details of the boys’ arrest surfaced last weekend, faculty at École Polyvalente Hyacinthe-Delorme grappled with a tense return to classes Monday. Administration met with teachers before the school day started to co-ordinate a response to the unsettling situation. Social workers were on site to help students and teachers cope with what promises to be a tense few weeks, according to a statement by the Commission scolaire St-Hyacinthe. There are about 1,800 students at the high school — located 60 kilometres east of Montreal.

The targets of the alleged plot have been offered professional support, Prevereault said.

“There were also threats, intimidation and harassment against a couple of the boys (who were intended victims),” said Sgt. Daniel Thibaudeau, a Sûreté du Québec spokesperson. “It wasn’t just talk. There was an actual plan, an actual method. There were items that were gathered and prepared to put the plot into execution.”

While many acts of mass violence

There were also threats, intimidation and harassment against a couple of the boys (who were intended victims).

are committed by so-called “lonewolf ” assailants, who operate along and outside of a command structure, one expert says it’s also common for two or more isolated people to meet and combine their violent thoughts.

“In the case of our two youths in St-Hyacinthe, you have two kids who are probably socially isolated, we don’t know for sure, but probably having some sort of trouble and they begin to encourage each other on Facebook,” said Gilles Vachon, a Quebec psychologist who studies the social dynamics of mass killings. “It’s easier to fantasize on Facebook than it is face to face.

“You start to lose critical distance. You have two people who, all of a sudden, encourage each other’s violent fantasies ... they feel recognized. You might think that, at some point, two people would start to be critical of each other but it’s actually the opposite. One contributes to the other’s fantasies.

“If I wanted to stop, I feel committed to you and you encourage me to keep going. So, my own critical thinking gives way to the pressure of the group.”

Neither the accused, nor the alleged victims, can be named because of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.