Five kids charged in school threat probes as cops report spike in online threats
Five tweens and teens have been charged with threatening schools on social media, Ontario’s provincial police said Tuesday as they reported a “spike” in online threats following a deadly school shooting in Florida last month.
Sgt. Peter Leon said officers conducted six separate investigations in the province’s central division, starting shortly after the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in which 14 students and three teachers were killed.
“We started to see a spike in them,” Leon said of the online threats. “Unfortunately, when events take place south of the border…we do start to see situations present themselves here in Ontario.”
Five people between the ages of 12 and 17 were charged with uttering threats. Four of the five were students at the schools they’re accused of threatening and the other was a former student, Leon said. Police did not arrest a sixth because the person was too young to face charges.