Inuvik’s East Three elementary and secondary schools are to reopen on Thursday afternoon after a lockdown on the opening morning of the academic year.
Police said one youth had been taken into custody and an investigation was continuing.
Writing on its Facebook page shortly after 8am, East Three Secondary School said the lockdown applied to both the elementary and secondary school sites.
“The RCMP are assessing the situation and we will update everyone before noon today,” the school wrote just before 8:15am.
In a brief statement by email, an RCMP spokesperson told Cabin Radio: “The schools have initiated their own lockdown procedures based on information that they received. The RCMP have been contacted to follow up on threats that have been made over social media.
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“We do not believe that this is an active threat and we did not direct the lockdown. This situation is unfolding so once I have more information, we will put something out.”
By mid-morning, East Three Secondary School had posted an update reading: “The RCMP have assessed the risk to East Three Elementary School and East Three Secondary School in Inuvik and deemed it safe to reopen.
“East Three Elementary School and East Three Secondary School will reopen after lunch today at 1pm. We thank everyone for their patience.”
According to the secondary school’s academic calendar, Thursday marked the beginning of the school year. Students were expected back for 8:30am.
The school’s previous academic year ended in June with an 18-year-old student being arrested and charged over a separate incident, in which police said the person “threatened to carry out an act of violence at the school.”
