This story has been updated from the original.
Abbotsford Police are at Robert Bateman Secondary this morning (Thursday) to investigate a violent threat that was allegedly made by one student to another.
Sgt. Judy Bird said police received a report last night that a threat had been made, and investigators are now on scene trying to piece together what actually occurred.
She said police are speaking to the teen who has alleged to have made the comments, and they are also speaking with witnesses.
A parent told me that despite school being in, she is pulling her child out of school today. #Abbotsford
— ᵈᵘˢᵗâ±n áµáµ’ᵈᶠʳᵉʸ (@dustinrgodfrey) November 1, 2018
About half a dozen police cars could be seen at the high school – located in east Abbotsford on Exbury Avenue – on Thursday morning. Most of them had cleared the scene by 10 a.m.
“When we have a report of the possibility of a violent threat, we want to make sure our community feels safe,” Bird said of the large response.
She said reports circulating on social media that police are responding to reports of a person with a gun are “absolutely false.”
Abbotsford School District spokesperson Kayla Stuckart said the school was placed on “shelter in place” at the request of the APD, as they investigated the threat. Shelter in place is a short-term security procedure in which doors to the outside are locked, but class continues as usual.
“Official notifications regarding any of our district’s emergency response procedures are always communicated by the school district using a variety of our online methods – web, social, app, email, etc.,” Stuckart said.
One parent at the scene told The News that she was taking her child out of school for the day, out of concern for the student’s safety. Stuckart did not respond to a question of whether that was an isolated example or if absent students was more widespread at the school on Thursday in time for publication.
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The incident comes on the two-year anniversary of a high-profile, fatal stabbing at Abbotsford Senior Secondary School. Gabriel Klein, the accused in that matter, was found to be presently unfit for trial in September, with another assessment set for the New Year.
Bird said that anyone with information about the alleged threat call the Abbotsford Police Department at 604-859-5225 or text abbypd (222973).
Police investigating possible threat at Robert Bateman Secondary in #Abbotsford, two years too the date after a fatal, high-profile stabbing at a local high school. At least six police cars here. #AbbySchools pic.twitter.com/skqSoMLNcd
— ᵈᵘˢᵗâ±n áµáµ’ᵈᶠʳᵉʸ (@dustinrgodfrey) November 1, 2018
And police look to be clearing out from the school. pic.twitter.com/irIgrGjiaE
— ᵈᵘˢᵗâ±n áµáµ’ᵈᶠʳᵉʸ (@dustinrgodfrey) November 1, 2018
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