By Troy Gillard (Twitter: @Troy_Gillard)

Youth who posted threat toward Red Deer High School pleads guilty

Apr 26, 2018 | 2:57 PM

A 16-year-old male has pleaded guilty to making a threat toward Hunting Hills High School last month.

The school was placed under lockdown on the morning of March 2 after several students posted on Instagram threatening to bring firearms to school.

RCMP responded and took three male youths into custody. Charges against two of them were withdrawn earlier this month.

The third youth, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty Thursday morning in Red Deer youth court to one count of uttering threats. He was given a conditional discharge which includes 12 months’ probation and 50 hours of community service.

Both the Crown and defense agreed that while the youth may not have been serious with his threat toward the school, all incidents of this nature must be treated seriously.

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Social media chat logs revealed the accused had messaged the other two youths about carrying out a shooting at the school. He later made similar comments during class that were heard by other students.

Though the threat may have been intended as a joke, there was no way for the student who reported the incident to have known that, court heard.

“I said a dumb thing in class,” the youth admitted. “I don’t want it to ruin the path ahead of me. I’m very sorry for what I’ve done.”

The youth has been taking medication for the past few months to help deal with depression, court heard. The Grade 11 student has been working to continue his education after being expelled from Hunting Hills following the incident.

Justice James Glass said during sentencing that given the youth co-operated with police, pleaded guilty and accepted responsibility for the incident that it appears to be a “one time thing” that shouldn’t impact the balance of his life.

The youth had no criminal record prior to this incident. He has until October to complete his community service requirements.