Kept in class

Ashlee Roukema was scared.

The 16-year-old St. Patrick High School student on Monday was enjoying her first day back in class after the Christmas break.

Midway through the morning her principal’s voice came over the intercom, announcing the school was in a hold-and-secure situation.

What students did not know was that a few minutes earlier a passerby in the North Selkirk and East Victoria Avenue area had reported to police that a man, believed to be armed with a knife, was seen in the area, allegedly making threats to himself and others.

Police reacted quickly, telling officials at St. Pat’s, Kingsway Park School on Empire Street and Pope John Paul II Senior Elementary School on Franklin Street and others in the area to secure their doors and not let anyone in or out.

“I didn’t get to hear what (my principal) said because the whole class was just going freaky,” Roukema said, standing outside the school a few hours later after police told school officials they could lift the restrictions, despite no suspect having been brought into custody.

“They were just being loud. All I heard was it wasn’t a drill, so we all got in the corner and sat down on the ground like a lockdown, kind of. (The principal) just told us we had to stay in class for a bit. Then he came back on the intercom and told us it was still a hold-and-secure. This was a half-an-hour into class.”

Thunder Bay Police Staff Sgt. Frank Earley said the hold-and-release call to the schools was a precaution, and to be safe patrols around the schools would be carried out until school let out and all students were away safely.

Several police vehicles, both marked and unmarked, could be seen patrolling the streets around all three schools as morning gave way to afternoon.

Roukema said the entire incident took about an hour.

“They didn’t really tell us what it was, but my teacher said it could have been a guy with a gun around the school in the neighbourhood, or somebody with a knife, possibly.”

It was an unnerving 60 minutes or so, the dark-haired teen said.

“I was pretty scared. My heart was pumping,” said the Grade 12 student, who survived a similar incident in Grade 8.

Thunder Bay District Catholic Board director of education John De Faveri said both local school boards have a well established protocol with OPP and Thunder Bay Police when incidents occur in school neighbourhoods.

Students are well-versed beforehand, he added, so while the initial shock of the call might startle them, they knew what to do.

“It is rehearsed with the students, very much the same way we would do a fire drill, so there isn’t a state of panic,” De Faveri said, adding it’s up to police to determine whether a hold-and-secure or the more serious lockdown scenario would be instituted.

The difference, he said, is that a hold-and-secure is when a possible threat is believed to be outside the school, while a lockdown is for threats from within.

“It is up to police to take charge of any situation that might create unsafe circumstances for any of our students. We take our lead from the police force,” said De Faveri, adding these type of scenarios usually play out on average once a school year.

Police conducted an extensive search of the surrounding area, involving uniformed officers, the K9 unit and the Emergency Task Unit and supervisors, but came up with nothing. The suspect was described to police as a Caucasian male in his early 20s, wearing jeans, black sneakers and an off-white hoodie or parka.

TBPS Insp. Andy Hay said they took a better-safe-than-sorry approach.

“There were no direct threats to any students, it was an air of precaution,” Hay said.

The investigation will continue. Police ask that anyone spotting the suspect to contact them immediately.