A 14-year-old young man who wanted to play a “joke” on his friends forced the confinement of a high school in Blainville on Wednesday after being seen by several residents in a wooded area with a hood and what looked like a machete.
It was around 3 p.m. that a first call was made to 911 to report the presence of an individual walking in a wooded area, very close to the high school.
“Initially, citizens told us on the phone that he was walking everywhere and that he had a machete in his hands as well as a hood. We therefore immediately went to the site,” relates the spokesperson for the Blainville City Police Department (SPVB), Sara Tousignant.
As per protocol, a “code black” was then triggered around the school. This means in concrete terms that the building must be confined and barricaded while awaiting police intervention, as a security measure.
The young man, aged only 14, was finally located by police around twenty minutes later. He is a former student of the Lucille-Teasdale school who now attends another school.
Shortly after, the school lockdown was lifted. In total, students and staff were required to stay sheltered for almost an hour. The young suspect was taken to a police station, where he was to be met by investigators in the middle of the evening on Wednesday.
A priori, however, everything indicates that it would be a hoax in very bad taste that is involved. “The young man said it was a joke on his friends from his old school that he wanted to do. And it was a piece of wood that he had in his hands, ultimately,” recalled Mme Tousignant, specifying that it is the investigation which will nevertheless confirm the exact motives.
Charges could be filed against the young man, who still forced the intervention of numerous police officers in addition to interrupting school activities and forcing the confinement of hundreds of students, as well as teachers and staff members. . “He is 14 years old, so he is subject to the Criminal Code,” the SPVB spokesperson said on Wednesday.