SOCIAL MEDIA BEDEVILS MANHUNT

‘BLOWN OUT OF PROPORTION’

Social media is creating havoc for police in the massive cross-Canada manhunt for teenage murder suspects Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18.

Online speculation that the pair has crossed into Ontario from Manitoba has led to calls to police reporting possible sightings in nine different towns in the province, including at a Tim Hortons restaurant in Timmins.

While police are encouraging the public to continue calling in anything suspicious, Acting Sgt. Shona Camirand with the OPP in North Bay said social media users are taking things too far.

“I got a call saying, ‘How come there’s helicopters?’ Well, there is no helicopters, and there’s other reports on social media that someone had been shot and it’s just been blown out of proportion,” she said.

Residents across the province are on high alert, dialling 911 in a frantic race to be the ones who help catch the triple murder suspects from Vancouver Island whose last confirmed location was in Gillam, Man., 11 days ago.

But with no trace of the fugitives since then, paranoia about the duo crossing provincial borders into Ontario has merged with the age of social media, leading to mass speculation online that has dominated police calls during the past 24 hours.

Marc Depatie, a communications co-ordinator with the Timmins Police Service, said a man believed he saw the fugitives at a Tim Hortons near the town centre on Wednesday.

“They called it in at 9:30 the next morning — 16 hours after the fact,” Depatie said.

Officers are working with the store’s owner to review surveillance footage to confirm if the individuals spotted were the two teenagers who have been the target of a nationwide manhunt since July 23.

Depatie said they had also received other calls, all of which were forwarded to the OPP.

Camirand said callers claim to have seen the fugitives in at least eight other Ontario towns including Kapuskasing, North Bay, Parry Sound, Sudbury, Cochrane, Sault Ste. Marie, West Nipissing and Wawa.

“We got a call in Kapuskasing and got a call at the same time from Sudbury,” she said. “Last night, we got a call in Cochrane and they turned out to be tree planters.”

“When we look at common sense, how far from Gillam to Kapuskasing … if they’re in a vehicle, they’re going to have to stop, they’re going to need gas,” Camirand said.

“The North-West region is a big place so to get through to the northeast region without getting caught, I can’t say where they are because no one knows.”

Despite receiving dozens of tips, Camirand said there was nothing new to report and no confirmed sightings in Ontario.

“This is all stemming from one post from someone who listens to the police scanners,” she added.

That post was about a suspicious vehicle driving through a construction zone