Gun scare at my school today.

Today was an interesting day. Showed up to school no problem, and then I take a bus to a separate building about 10 minute drive from the main facility. Nothing unusual.

When we (my classmates and I) return at lunch, we discovered that many of the doors had been sealed from the inside. This was rather puzzling, however I came to the logical conclusion that they were cracking down on the smoker kids, preventing them from returning from their little outing . Anyway, after a little while the custodian came and unlocked the door for us, and we went in and had lunch.

Third period, immediately after the bell, and just before I arrived, the teacher locks the door, which is a tad unusual. After waiting a minute or so, the door cracks slightly and I'm allowed inside.

Before we start the class, the teacher tells us that there has been a tip (I think it was from the RCMP*) that something was going to happen, and the school was in an "alert" state, basically waiting for some kind of official notice that we should go into full lock-down, and students were advised not to go spend extended periods of time in the hallway or to leave the main building.

This alone is pretty scary. Going over lock-down procedure was never a big deal. They had talked about having a drill, but usually they're pretty lenient and they tell us when these things happen. Further inquiry was met with "I have been instructed not to give you any more details."

At this point there is two things running through my mind. Three, actually. Number one, is this a real scenario, or is this just a drill? Number two, If this is real, what is going to happen? and number three, I can't for the life of me understand why they can't tell us.


Frankly, I started to assume the worst. Someone had received a text message from a separate room that there were two RCMP officers in the parking lot.

The students at my school have always taken lock-downs pretty seriously. There's always the exception, but during a drill there has never been any messing around. So why aren't they telling us? The teacher said he didn't want to get us frenzied or scared. Many of us piped up and said that the tension of waiting to see if this is a drill or not is worse than actually knowing what the hell is going to happen.

This is the main reason I made this post. Why was this information withheld? Obviously if they wanted to have a drill, it would NOT have been this tight, based on my past experiences. Not only that; we're all 16,17 and 18 years old. We're not children who need to be coddled and kept in the dark in any kind of serious situation like this. It only served to build more tension and fear in some of the students than it did to reassure them, which makes me wonder if this entire thing is just a load of scare tactics? Also, they announced that the "alert" is for not only today, but the next few days.

Thoughts or comments are appreciated.


*For those who don't know, the RCMP Are the Canadian Police force. I'm in Dawson Creek, British Columbia.


PS, sorry for the massive post.

[edit on 4-10-2007 by Catfish]

reply to post by Catfish


First of let me tell you that I am a Mom and what you experienced today is very upsetting.

Not so much because of the possibility of some event either real or imagined but because of the lack of information given to you.

If you were my child I would advise you to stay home until they got their act together.

And also I suggest that as many parents as your parents can rally should converge by phone for clarity before sending the kids back.

One more thing, it is important to keep a cell phone with you in this day and age and in a situation like you faced today a call to your parents would have been the # 1 thing to do.

Best of luck to you in what ever you and your family decides, you are in my thoughts.

Your school wasn't the only drill today...

Terrorist Drill

I wonder who else has been having recent "drills" lately.

@Antar, thanks for your swift reply and support. The only problem with trying to get a lot of parents to call in about it is that a lot of the picture is very hazy, and I don't want to start a frenzy myself. Since I don't know all the facts, it might end up to be much smaller than I've been lead to believe (unlikely considering the circumstances, but still) or it might even be bigger.

I recently got a message from a friend that someone told her it is drug related, which doesn't do much to tone it down. Drugs are a big problem in this town too. That said, I will try to remain neutral about this news as its a "He said she said" thing.


reply to post by stellawayten


I smell a pattern...

Its the same thing here, when I was in high school the local police department informed the school district that a local offshoot of the Latin Kings had made credible threats to infiltrate the school and shoot several students that they had gotten into a fight with at a party over the weekend. It was all hush hush and the school district's security guards locked the doors and basically barricaded the building ... the gangmembers actually were able to force their way inside the school before they were stopped and Alamo II prevented from happening. Same excuse ... we dident want panic blah blah blah. It actually happened twice in my 4 years there and both times they were able to get inside the school and the school still has lame useless security measures.

Same thing with the bomb threats and on the one occasion that some dumb a-- student set off a chlorine bomb in between classes and caused mass chaos of biblical proportions and the time when the generator went on fire and the entire basement and sublevels went on fire. No instructions other then to stay in class and close the blinds; only when the firefighters were running through the halls with hoses and the cops go ballistic that we werent evacuated yet did they tell us evacuate.

[edit on 4-10-2007 by ChrisF231]

Originally posted by ChrisF231
Its the same thing here, when I was in high school the local police department informed the school district that a local offshoot of the Latin Kings had made credible threats to infiltrate the school and shoot several students that they had gotten into a fight with at a party over the weekend. It was all hush hush and the school district's security guards locked the doors and basically barricaded the building ... the gangmembers actually were able to force their way inside the school before they were stopped and Alamo II prevented from happening. Same excuse ... we dident want panic blah blah blah. It actually happened twice in my 4 years there and both times they were able to get inside the school and the school still has lame useless security measures.

Same thing with the bomb threats and on the one occasion that some dumb a-- student set off a chlorine bomb in between classes and caused mass chaos of biblical proportions and the time when the generator went on fire and the entire basement and sublevels went on fire. No instructions other then to stay in class and close the blinds; only when the firefighters were running through the halls with hoses and the cops go ballistic that we werent evacuated yet did they tell us evacuate.

[edit on 4-10-2007 by ChrisF231]

That's absolutely psychotic no one left? in that kind of scenario, I'd say to hell with teachers and to hell with the rules, I'm not staying in a burning building. I hope whoever gave you guys the orders to stay put got fired and flamed big time