15-year-old facing charges for allegedly planning ‘violent attack’ on N.S. school

A Bridgewater, N.S., youth has been arrested for allegedly planning an attack on a high school.

Police say a 15-year-old is facing serious charges for allegedly planning a “violent attack” at a school in Bridgewater, N.S.

INTERPOL and the FBI alerted the Bridgewater Police Service last Friday to an ongoing online conversation between two Canadian youths that began in late February.

One youth is from Bridgewater and the other is from Manitoba.

Police say the Bridgewater youth talked about wanting to mount a “violent attack” on students at Parkview Education Centre. The school teaches approximately 880 students from Grade 10 to 12, according to its website.

“It was specific to killing and murdering other students. The matter of how they were going to conduct those murders was not clear at this point,” Bridgewater Deputy Police Chief Danny MacPhee told CTV News Atlantic.

“While the attack was not believed to be imminent, it was clear that they had committed some thought and planning to the idea,” police said in a Wednesday news release.

Police allege the youths had also discussed a plan to attack Rivers Collegiate, a school in the municipality of Riverdale, Man., about 40 kilometres northwest of Brandon. The school has a population of 141 students in Grades 7 to 12.

Investigators believe the youths had been planning simultaneous attacks at their local schools.

Blue Hills RCMP arrested the Manitoba youth on Monday.

Officers executed a search warrant at a Bridgewater home on Tuesday and arrested the Nova Scotia youth.

Police say they found detailed handwritten plans, imitation weapons, a roughly-made imitation pipe bomb and assault rifle, electronic devices, including a cellphone, laptop and clothing with hate symbols and “concerning comments.”

The 15-year-old has been charged with:

• conspiracy to commit murder
• uttering threats to cause death

At this point, police do not believe any other local youths were involved.

“We were able to capture this with the help of our federal and international partners before it escalated into an active attacker,” MacPhee said.

“Anytime that you make online comments to anybody, that you want to cause harm to any group, it’s concerning.”

Police say hate crime and other possible offences are under investigation.

The youth is currently in custody and is scheduled to appear at Bridgewater youth court for arraignment on Wednesday.

The Bridgewater Police Service is asking anyone with information that may help the investigation to call them at 902-543-2464.

“This is a very small community, we know everybody. We have children that go to the school, were involved in the community,” said MacPhee.

“This would greatly affect a community this size and I’m happy that our investigators were able to get into this before it ever escalated.”

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