A 14-year-old boy looking to play a “prank” on his friends forced the closure of a Blainville high school Wednesday after he was seen by several residents in a wooded area wearing a hood and carrying what appeared to be a machete .
Published at 7:35 p.m.
An initial call was made to 911 around 3 p.m. to report the presence of a person walking in a wooded area very close to the high school.
“At first the citizens told us on the phone that he was running around everywhere and had a machete in his hand as well as a hood. That’s why we went to the construction site immediately,” says Blainville City Police Department (SPVB) spokeswoman Sara Tousignant.
As per protocol, a “Code Black” was then triggered around the school. In concrete terms, this means that the building must be sealed off and barricaded as a security measure until the police intervene.
The young man, just 14 years old, was finally located by police about twenty minutes later. He is a former Lucille Teasdale School student who now attends another school.
Shortly afterwards the school lockdown was lifted. In total, students and staff had to remain protected for almost an hour. The young suspect was taken to a police station, where investigators were expected to meet him on Wednesday evening.
A priori, however, everything indicates that this is a tasteless fake. “The young man said it was a joke he wanted to make about his friends from his old school. And it ended up being a piece of wood that he was holding in his hands,” Ms. Tousignant said, explaining that it was the investigation that would still confirm the exact motives.
Charges could be brought against the young man, who nevertheless forced the intervention of numerous police officers, interrupted school operations and forced the accommodation of hundreds of students as well as teachers and staff. “He is 14 years old, so he is subject to the criminal code,” said the SPVB spokesman on Wednesday.