St. Joseph a target among multiple bomb threats in Sask
When Patti Yick heard about a bomb threat at her son’s school, she couldn’t help but think of a worst-case scenario.
“It’s extremely upsetting,” she said Friday afternoon, after picking up her son Sam.
He and the rest of his classmates at St. Joseph High School in Saskatoon had to leave the building hastily thanks to a false bomb threat, one of two in Saskatchewan on the same day.
At 11:15 a.m., an unknown male caller told St. Joseph administration staff there was a bomb in the building. They informed police minutes later, and the school was evacuated.
“I was in my science classroom. They pulled the alarm and we ran outside,” said Hunter Sander, a Grade 10 student. At the time, the kids didn’t know there was a bomb threat.
“Everything was calm, just like with a fake drill,” he said.
The evacuees were sent to either the SaskTel Soccer Centre or the Holy Family Church. Parents were allowed to come get their kids soon after, and they had all been picked up or let go by about 2:45 p.m.
Traffic was briefly restricted on Attridge Drive, and Nelson Road was closed for most of the afternoon.
Despite her early worry, Yick said police and school administrators handled the situation properly.
“I think they did well,” she said.
Officers from several police units started searching the building at about 2:20 p.m. At 4:19 p.m., a news release declared the building clear.
No information on who made the threat, beyond it being a male voice, was available on Friday, police spokesperson Kelsie Fraser said.
Within two hours of the threat at St. Joseph in Saskatoon, four schools in Meadow Lake were evacuated and students taken nearby after threats were made.
There was no indication the threats in Saskatoon and Meadow Lake were related, according to Saskatoon police.
RCMP said threats were received by telephone shortly after 1 p.m. at Gateway, Jubilee and Lakeview elementary schools in Meadow Lake.
The local school division had students from those schools, along with those at Jonas Samson High School, moved via school bus to Lions Park Hill near Carpenter High School.
In addition, the Meadow Lake Christian Academic Centre relocated its students.
Carpenter High School was placed on lockdown.
All the schools were thoroughly searched and declared clear, RCMP said in a news release later Friday afternoon.