Suspect, 13, in custody following lockdown at Regina high school: police

Suspect in custody after lockdown at high school WATCH: A lockdown at F.W. Johnson Collegiate has been lifted with everyone safe and a girl in custody. Allison Bamford has the details.

A youth is in custody after a report of a firearm prompted a lockdown at F.W. Johnson Collegiate on Friday morning.

RPS said a 13-year-old girl was located at a house on the 1300 block of Fleet Street. She was arrested and taken into custody just before 11:30 a.m. Another youth was arrested with her as part of the investigation.

Shortly after the arrest, police located an airsoft gun believed to have been involved in the incident, that looked like a long barrelled assault rifle.

Police responded to the school around 9:15 a.m. after a report that a youth had pointed a firearm at a staff member and then left, according to an afternoon press release from RPS.

The investigation is continuing. RPS Deputy Chief Lorilee Davies said the 13-year-old girl will be charged in relation to this incident. Police will provide an update once charges are laid.

“We don’t have charges finalized as of yet,” Davies said.

“This is a very serious incident. There will be significant charges with significant consequences.”

Davies said there are no reports that shots were fired or that anyone was injured.

The high school was placed into lockdown mode on Friday morning. More than a dozen police officers responded to the school.

Students told CTV News they had to barricade the doors of the classrooms they were in—using desks, tables, chairs and garbage cans—as part of the lockdown protocol.

“The principal sounded very worried and scared. I didn’t think too much of it and then the alarms went off which scared a lot of people,” said Grade 10 student Cameron Inouie.

“I was freaking out but deep down inside I was trying to keep calm.”

A group of parents flocked to the school once they heard it was locked down. Many were frantically texting their kids inside for updates.

“We didn’t know what was going on. We just knew from what we were hearing from my son inside and it was really scary,” Creighton Widdis said.

The lockdown was lifted around 11:30 a.m. Students started exiting the building shortly after.

“Staff and students followed our protocols for lockdown to the letter and I believe that contributed a relatively seamless conclusion to something that could have been quite bad,” said Terry Lazarou, supervisor of communications for Regina Public Schools.

Lazarou said school lockdowns are rare in Regina. They occur when a potential risk is inside the school.

Six nearby elementary schools were also put into a “secure the building mode” as a precaution.

Those schools were: St. Theresa School, Judge Bryant School, Dr. George Ferguson School, St. Catherine Community School, Glen Elm Community School and Henry Braun School.

“With secure the building, which happens a little more frequently, there is some kind of threat in the neighbourhood potentially, so the school doors are locked,” Lazarou said, adding classes continue as normal under secure-the-building mode.

The school division’s traumatic response team is on had if students need to speak with counsellors, Lazarou said.