Teen arrested, gun seized at Selkirk school

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/10/2018 (2018 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba RCMP arrested a 17-year-old Selkirk student Tuesday, after he took a sawed-off shotgun and ammunition to school.

Administration put Lord Selkirk Regional Comprehensive Secondary School into lockdown just before 11:10 a.m., and called the RCMP after they got a tip about a firearm from within the school.

Authorities quickly arrived, took the student into custody and seized the shotgun and ammunition, both found in the backpack the teen was carrying.

The weapon wasn’t loaded, RCMP said.

Lord Selkirk School Division superintendent Michele Polinuk said the lockdown — called a code red — lasted exactly 10 minutes between 11:08 a.m. and 11:18 a.m. The entire incident was resolved inside the school, she said.

Neither school officials nor authorities released details on why the student brought the firearm to school.

Charges were pending Tuesday.

The lockdown occurred as soon as the tip had been received and no one was injured during the incident, Polinuk said.

“Everyone from the RCMP to our staff and to our students responded so very quickly,” she said.

The school conducts lockdown drills twice a year.

“Student safety is always paramount in everything we do in our school system or our province. You always take the best precautions that you can anticipate, and you hope that people are always looking out for the betterment of the community, whether it’s a town, a school, a classroom, that somebody will speak up,” the superintendent said.

“I’m just so proud of the whole school system, because with all the training, right from kindergarten up, we talk to kids about if someone’s bullying you, tell someone. If you see something that’s not right, tell someone.”

The high school is one of the largest in the province with 1,079 registered students. (Not all of them attend the same campus; some are registered off-campus.)

The school property is located on a street by itself, in a field bordered by a track and field stadium on one side, the school division offices on another, and train tracks behind it.

A number of fast-food joints are located three blocks away on Main Street. Normally, the businesses experience a lunch rush from the high school, but Tuesday, all reported many of the regulars were no-shows.

Word of the event filtered out over the afternoon, with news of the arrest spreading beyond the school.

“I’m finding more and more students, staff, adults, even through social media, are quick to share information so that there are no events of any kind or issues that take place,” Polinuk said.

“I just feel that, especially being in a small community, might be part of it. People are looking out for other people.”