WINNIPEG — It was an offensive and degrading rap song that threatened an entire school. Now police suspect they have the man behind the video is a former student at the Kildonan East Collegiate.
He was arrested Thursday at 1:30 p.m., less than 24 hours after the video was posted on Youtube. He’s facing charges of mischief, harassment and uttering threats.
Winnipeg police spoke to the public Friday morning about the arrest, saying they traced the video, which helped them find the accused at a home in the North End of the city. The man was released with a promise to appear in court.
“With the tragic events that just occurred in La Loche that when someone is allegedly willing to post this type of video threatening institutions threatening people, the service is going to take that very seriously,” said Constable Eric Hofley, “we will do all within our power to identify that person.”
The video, Wyatt Kuran posted on YouTube Wednesday, made violent threats toward Winnipeg’s Kildonan East Collegiate as well as certain students.
In the four-minute video which shows a photo of the school, the unidentified man raps about “taking the whole school down.”
The song, which continues with lyrics like, “You best believe I’m shopping for guns and ammo,” mentions hurting students. It also bullies certain female students, calling them obscene and demeaning names.
“I heard my name, I wasn’t too impressed,” a teen mentioned in the video said (who Global News will not name). “No one wants to be called a slut and a whore.”
After hearing the video Wednesday night, her mother notified the school division and police.
She was relieved to learn an arrest has been made so quickly.
“I think it speaks volumes to kids in every school not just KE, it’ll touch every kid going to school saying ‘Hey, look I can’t get away with this stuff’.”
This is the second video of its kind posted on YouTube, making threats against the school. That one has now become a part of the investigation.
The school went into high alert Thursday, locking it’s doors except the front and having staff monitor the grounds and entrances. It remained that way Friday.
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“The school is still on high alert,” Kelly Barkman, the superintendent of the River East Transcona School Division told Global News Friday morning. He said next week the school will be talking with students about lessons learned from this incident, including how to handle social media and topics on cyber bullying.
Winnipeg police said there is a chance of “copy cats”, so there is a possibility this will happen again.
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The videos have been removed from YouTube.
Statement from Kildonan East Collegiate to parents and guardians.