Adults organized student ‘fight club’ in Grande Prairie, RCMP say

RCMP in northwestern Alberta say recent fights between high school students that have sent some to hospital appear to be organized by adults.

Cpl. Candace Hrdlicka says high school students in Grande Prairie between 16 and 18 years old have been involved in the organized fights.

She says some of the students have been seriously injured, but she could not say how many.

“Serious in that they required treatment at hospital but not any more extensive than that,” Hrdlicka told Global News on Monday, adding the injuries were non-life-threatening.

Hrdlicka says investigators believe that the fights, which have been happening after school, are organized by adults between the ages of 18 and 24.

“We’ve definitely not heard that there were any parents involved at all. It’s young adults. We haven’t identified or confirmed yet the ages, but 18 to 24, in that age group,” Hrdlicka said.

Hrdlicka says a letter has been sent to parents warning them about the alleged fight club.

So far no arrests have been made.

“We were trying to make sure parents knew that this was happening and asking them to have those conversations with their kids, so we could put a stop to it and make sure nobody else gets injured,” Hrdlicka said Monday about the letter, which was written by police for high schools to distribute.

“We always wanted to educate the youth on what some of the potential consequences could be.”

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She said police could potentially lay criminal charges.

“We’re wanting the behaviour to stop. It’s quite concerning for safety reasons. We don’t want to have students or anybody else in the community injured through these activities,” Hrdlicka said.

The local school superintendent referred all inquiries to the RCMP.

With files from Global News.