Teen charged with making threats toward Regina high school

A 15-year-old girl has been charged with uttering threats toward the staff and students at a Regina high school after an investigation that started with Interpol.

In a media release Thursday, the Regina Police Service said it got a message early Tuesday from the Lethbridge Police Service about a possible school shooting. The threat had been made on social media.

“Lethbridge Police had been contacted by Interpol, which intercepted a Snapchat message showing a picture of two select-fire/automatic rifles and a vague message hinting something would happen at ‘school,’ ” the release said.

“Some of the information initially suggested the target might be in Alberta, but further investigation pointed to the possibility of an incident in Regina.”

A member of the Regina Police Service Technological Crimes Unit started digging into the message, police said, and that involved gaining special permission from Internet search engines and telecommunications providers to try to identify the sender.

The officer eventually identified a suspect and the school she attended. Police informed school authorities and the School Resource Officer was sent to make an arrest at the suspect’s home Wednesday at 8:50 a.m.

“Police determined the suspect did not have access to firearms,” the release said. “The photograph of the weapons was an image taken from the internet; the criminal charge, however, is real.”

The youth, who can’t be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, appeared in Regina Youth Court on Wednesday.