A Saanich Police cruiser is parked in front of Spectrum senior secondary Tuesday as police investigate an earlier report of a weapon in the building.
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By Roszan Holmen - Saanich News
Published: November 25, 2008 5:00 PM
Updated: November 26, 2008 12:15 PM
Minor faces criminal charges for threats and assault
A minor appeared in youth court Wednesday morning charged with uttering threats and assault with a weapon at Spectrum community school.
Twenty-three police officers surrounded the school after an employee called Saanich police at 1:42 p.m. with reports of a weapon.
Witnesses described seeing the handle of a gun in the pant waist band of the suspect, said Sgt. John Price.
The school's lock down procedure was put into place and police began searching the school, its grounds and nearby Cuthbert Holmes Park and Tillicum Centre.
Nearby Marigold elementary school was also placed on lock down as a precaution.
By 3:15 p.m., police found nothing on school property so students were released from their classrooms.
At 4:18 p.m., however, police arrested three suspects at Tillicum Centre and later recovered an air-soft pellet gun, which shoots rubber bullets, in the home of a person known to one of the suspects.
"Two of the kids were released to their parents and one spent the night (in custody) for morning court," Price said. The minor facing criminal charges is not a student at Spectrum.
“According to school administrators the staff and the students did everything according to school procedures and past practices," said Sgt John Price, Saanich police's public information officer, in a statement released after the incident was over. “It is a time of stress for students, staff and parents – it is why these events are planned for and practised."
With files from Jim Zeeben
