VICTORIA -- West Shore RCMP say that a threat against a high school in Langford on Tuesday has been cleared.
Police said they were investigating the threat Tuesday morning after a social media message began circulating that advised students of Belmont Secondary School not to attend school. The online messages reportedly alleged that a potential shooting could take place.
Officers could be seen at the school Tuesday morning while students and staff were allowed to attend classes.
Now, police say that the threat has been deemed unfounded.
“We can confirm that our investigation revealed that there was no threat to the school,” said West Shore RCMP spokesperson Const. Nancy Saggar in a statement.
“The student who made the original comment has been identified,” she said. “The comment itself was made by one student to another and was not intended as a threat. Further distribution of the comment amongst students and social media greatly distorted the context of the original comment.”
While the threat has proven to be unfounded, Mounties say they take any potential threat towards a school seriously.
The West Shore RCMP detachment encourages anyone to speak with their local police if they believe there is a threat towards their school, or if they come across any similar messages.
Tuesday’s incident marked the third publicly known threat against a Vancouver Island school in recent days after a pair of weapons threats forced a Courtenay middle school to close twice since Nov. 26.
