Two teenage boys have been charged with mischief and uttering threats after a crumpled note referring to gunfire was found at a Sunshine Coast high school.
A crumpled note containing threats of gunfire was found Tuesday at Elphinstone Secondary School in Sunshine Coast .
(CBC)
Police said the note found on a bench inside Elphinstone Secondary School contained references to bullets and gunfire, creating fear among the 700 students as well as teachers on Tuesday.
"We do not know when we first get the information whether it's a prank or not, so we have to treat every incident as a serious incident, and that's what we did in this case," principal John Clements said Friday.
Sunshine Coast RCMP said they stepped up their presence at the school the following days. Teachers were also asked to compare copies of the note with writing samples from student assignments and notebooks.
John Clements, principal of Elphinstone Secondary School, said a threatening note was taken seriously and RCMP were called in to investigate.
(CBC)
"We certainly increased our levels to make sure we had people in the area or actively in the school and we had five officers involved in that," Sgt. Barry Meyer said Friday.
Police said the note turned out to be a prank but they have laid charges against the two teens, aged 16 and 17. One of the students involved is deeply remorseful and regrets writing the note, Meyer said.
Sam Garmulewicz, who is in Grade 9 at Elphinstone, said students first heard about the threat over the P.A. system.
Grade 12 student Rae Lynn Carson said the prank caused fear among classmates and parents alike.
(CBC)
"There was just dead silence throughout the whole school right when the announcements came. We realized this isn't funny — this is real. Scary!" he said.
"I think it was really dumb of the person who did this because I have friends in Quebec this happened to … [trails off crying]," said Rae Lynn Carson, a Grade 12 student.
Carson was referring to the shooting at Dawson College in Montreal in September last year — one of many school shooting incidents that have changed the way institutions respond to threats and pranks. One student was killed and 18 others wounded in the Dawson shooting.
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