Here’s What Happened With Threats at a Burlington High School
Published June 14, 2018 at 11:00 pm
There was no recent bomb threat at a Burlington high school, say Halton police.
There was no recent bomb threat at a Burlington high school, say Halton police.
The person who called it in on June 5 has been identified, say investigators, who “have determined that there was no threat made.”
Halton police investigated two false reports of threatening incidents in Burlington on June 4 and June 5.
Both incidents involved Dr. Frank J. Hayden Secondary School and the Haber Recreation Centre. These facilities are attached in the same building complex located at 3040 Tim Dobbie Dr.
But the caller -who is a frequent user of the recreation centre- had received notice of the previous day’s threat and thought it had been a bomb threat.
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It turns out the resident was just calling the facility to find out if the centre was open because of the earlier threat but it was “communicated poorly” resulting in staff believing this was a new threat.
Investigators say they’re satisfied that there was never any intention on the part of the caller to threaten anyone.
On June 4, some unsubstantiated rumours began to be put forward that there was a threat of someone attending the school with a gun the following day.
The school received calls from concerned parents as the rumours were apparently on a social media site.
A citizen contacted a media outlet about these rumours and school officials investigated the rumours in conjunction with police.
The rumours involved a specific named person and the investigation concluded that this information was false and vexatious.
The school sent a message out to parents, guardians and students advising them of the investigation and providing them information that there was no evidence of any kind of an actual threat was made. School activities were not impacted due to these rumours.
The next day at 8 p.m., staff at the Haber Recreation Centre received an anonymous telephone call.
The caller eluded that about an hour later there was going to be a bomb threat at the centre.
The recreation centre is comprised of a library and a hall and staff elected to have the premise evacuated under an abundance of caution.
Police attended and conducted a thorough search of the centre and found no threat or cause for any concern.
The recreation centre was closed to the public for about 2.5 hours and then reopened for public use.
In both investigated incidents, the vague threats were deemed to be false and vexatious in nature, clearly intended to cause alarm to members of the public.
At this time it is not clear if one or more persons are responsible for both of these incidents.
School officials and the police reiterated to students, parents and guardians that there was no cause for any concern for students attending school on Wednesday June 6.
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