Walnut Grove Secondary School in Langley, B.C., went into lockdown mode Friday morning.
Insp. Steve Wade, Langley RCMP Operations officer, said police first received a call just after 9 a.m. saying someone had seen a man in a trench coat entering the school with what appeared to be a rifle.
“During the course of the search, we found that the firearm was likely a prop brought in by a staff member for a Remembrance Day display,” he said.
“We continued our search to ensure that was the case. We were assisted by the Integrated Police Dog Service and the Lower Mainland Emergency Response Team. We did a systematic search of the whole school and did find it was in fact a staff member who brought the prop in.”
Wade said police have had conversations with the staff member about the appropriateness of that action.
The Langley School District confirmed in a statement that a decommissioned weapon was brought into the school to be used as part of a history lesson and Remembrance Day-related teachings.
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However, some of the students were shaken by the experience, Wade said.
Grade 12 student Nicholas Arvanetes told Global News he was helping in a Grade 8 class when they heard the lockdown was in place.
“It was interesting to me as a student to help younger students during this pretty stressful situation and be able to keep my stress on the low to make sure the students weren’t stressed,” he said.
“They were very cooperative, they all kept quiet but it was noticeable that some of them were pretty nervous.”
Even so, Arvanetes said it was a stressful experience.
In a statement, the school said the lockdown was issued at 9:15 a.m. “out of an abundance of caution by school administration and under the direction of RCMP.”
The school said staff received reports of a potential threat on school grounds.
“As per District procedures, weapons including replicas are prohibited on school grounds. The District recognizes the use of this artifact and today’s incident has caused tremendous stress for students, staff, and families,” the Langley School District said in a statement.
The lockdown was lifted after about one hour.
“The school has resources in place to help them get through the trauma, which I imagine is pretty great,” Wade said.
He added an occasion like this does tie up many police resources for an extended period of time, but said he would rather have officers do their due diligence and err on the side of caution to make sure everyone is safe.
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