Teen facing conspiracy to commit murder charge after city police stop potential school attack
A teen is facing charges after an investigation into an online threat involving a potential school attack.
On October 6, officers started looking into possible online communications that may have involved a threat to the public in Thunder Bay, as well as another country.
The FBI, Interpol, and the RCMP assisted the Thunder Bay Police Service with the investigation.
It was determined that a teen in Thunder Bay was communicating with another person online who is believed to be in another country.
The pair were allegedly conspiring and counselling each other regarding a potential attack.
City police believe the attempts would have been carried out in the near future.
Officers and school resource officers searched two locations in Thunder Bay on Tuesday.
As a result, a 13-year-old is facing the following charges:
- Counselling to Commit an Offence that is Not Committed
- Conspiracy to Commit Murder
The accused remains in custody with a future court date.
“This is a reminder that youth can be manipulated online by predators, extremists or other criminals to exploit vulnerabilities like isolation, curiosity, leading to offences from minor crimes to violence,” explained Acting Inspector Chris Carlucci.
“An example being school shootings or hate crimes in Ontario, police, cyber crime units like ours monitor these under the Criminal Code and the Youth Criminal Justice Act.”
“Grooming often involves gaining trust, normalizing crime and escalating involvement, usually via private chats or online groups. Please help to protect our children by using tools such as Net Nanny to monitor activity. Let’s talk to our youth about online risks and report suspicious behaviours.”