A Brampton school was placed under a lockdown and several others were under hold-and-secure orders Tuesday morning due to what Peel Regional Police are calling a “swatting” false alarm call.
Gordon Graydon Senior Public School near Rutherford Road and Vodden Street was placed under the lockdown at around 8:30 a.m. and police say that students arriving for classes were not allowed inside.
Peel Regional Police media relations officer Lilly Fitzpatrick told reporters that police received a call where someone threatened that a person with a weapon, “was going to come to the school and harm individuals.” The individual also made a threatening call to staff at Gordon Graydon Senior Public School.
She said police immediately “got the feeling this was one of those swatting calls,” a false alarm call meant to “generate the most massive emergency services response possible.”
Nevertheless, police tactical and canine units conducted a full search of Gordon Graydon, and did not find any suspicious people or weapons.
"As we would do in any case where someone makes a threat, even if we think it's a false call, we cannot take the chance that we made a mistake," Fitzpatrick said.
The lockdown at Gordon Graydon ended shortly after 11 a.m., Peel District School Board officials said in a tweet. Hold-and-secure orders at Madoc Drive and Harold F. Loughin public schools ended at the same time.
Ordinarily classes are allowed to continue during hold-and-secures, however because the order was put into place before the opening bell most students are not inside the affected schools, a spokesperson for the Peel District School Board told CP24. Students on buses already headed to the school when the lockdown began were diverted to a staging area.
Anyone with information that could reveal who made the call is asked to call Peel Regional Police investigators at 905 453 2121, ext. 2231.
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