Classes were not disrupted at Valleyview secondary on Friday morning after students and staff arrived to find graffiti on the outside of the building referencing a bomb.
Large pink letters reading “find the bomb” were scrawled on the west side of the high school, leading staff to call the Kamloops RCMP.
School District 73 assistant superintendent Bill Hamblett said police searched inside and outside the school and found no breaches had been made to the building, which was locked overnight.
Hamblett said classes remained in session during the search and police determined the threat was not credible.
The phrasing of the message indicated the graffiti was likely a prank as opposed to a credible threat, RCMP Cpl. Stephen Newport told KTW. He said police investigated with school district staff, but a major sweep of the building was deemed unnecessary. Police dog services were not brought in to investigate.
Hamblett said emails were sent to parents to keep them abreast of the situation, which wrapped up by about 9:45 a.m.
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This is the second threat against a Kamloops high school this week.
On Tuesday, Mounties said a Sa-Hali secondary student posted a message on the social media app Snapchat, threatening her school. That threat was also deemed not credible and the student will not face charges.
“Every threat made on a school, whether it’s via social media post or a graffiti tag, is taken very seriously,” Hamblett said. “These incidents take a tremendous amount of resources to investigate and determine the source of the threat and it’s critically important for parents to stress to their children the consequences of these inappropriate actions.”
Hamblett said it is not known who scrawled the graffiti on the wall at Valleyview secondary, but noted anybody with information should report it to the RCMP by calling 250-828-3000.
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