Sudbury sees third school threat in three weeks

Police are investigating a threat at an elementary school in Greater Sudbury on Thursday.

At 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, a student at Ecole Notre-Dame in Hanmer reported a threatening message written in the bathroom.

This comes after there were two threats at area high schools -- one earlier this week and the other last month. Police said a youth is believed to be involved in the Hanmer threat.

The threat from earlier this week at Ecole Secondaire L'Horizon, is still under investigation. Both schools are under Conseil Scolaire Catholique Nouvelon, who declined CTV’s request for an interview.

Sgt. Sherry Young said the volume of recent school threats is typical.

"When there is one threat, there's risk of future threats to mimic the others, so it is unfortunately typical," Young said.

"We are investigating each of the threats on an individual basis and we're trying to do the best we can to support the schools and school administration."

Young said repercussions for students who make the threats depend on their age.

"If the student is under 12 years of age, because we are investigating a threat at al elementary school, they're not of criminal age," she said.

"They’re not of the age to be accountable for charges under the Criminal Code."

For high school students, a number of factors are involved.

"We have our Youth Criminal Justice Act, we have alternatives with regards to youth diversion, and it’s still a charge under the Criminal Code," Young explained.

"The offender would be held accountable through an arrest and … judicial measures if appropriate or it could be a court date."

Young said one threat garners a lot of attention and often leads to more threats.

"There's a lot of attention, there's a lot of anxiety and worry with safety, so people are talking about it. Sometimes that prompts the second, and then the third right?" she said.

"That's the pattern we're seeing with risk assessment training, that one can initiate two, three and more, unfortunately."

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