Teen held after online threats to school

A 15-year-old Nanaimo student has been arrested in connection with online threats made against Cedar Secondary school last week.

Nanaimo RCMP arrested the teen on Nov. 3, hours after the threats were made online. He was released into the care of his parents, but his release conditions prohibit him from attending any school in School District 68.

Police have not released details of the threats, nor said what online platform was used. Nanaimo RCMP’s school liaison unit and school administrators conducted a threat assessment of the incident.

“There’s nothing found to indicate there’s any risk to the school, staff, students, or anyone associated to that school,” said Nanaimo RCMP spokesman Const. Gary O’Brien.

The youth has been charged with uttering threats. His first court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 18.

“What we’re finding — not only in our community, but in many other communities — youth are thinking they can post these disconcerting threats online, and they won’t be held accountable,” O’Brien said.

“Well, they will be held accountable. We take these incidents very seriously.”

In an unrelated case, Sooke RCMP are investigating inappropriate and possibly threatening messages written in chalk on the side of Journey Middle School on Tuesday.

The school said on its website that three of the messages were inappropriate.

“We followed our protocol and took pictures and removed the messages as soon as possible. All messages have been forwarded to the RCMP,” the statement said. “The RCMP keep messages on file and look for patterns in messages and handwriting.”

Sooke RCMP Cpl. Joe Holmes said Mounties are working with the school to try to determine whether a crime was committed.

“We’re looking into this to see if there’s any potential risk,” Holmes said.

The school made an announcement to students Tuesday and asked anyone with information to come forward to staff.