The incident happened just before 2 p.m. Wednesday.
The three 14-year-old boys were walking on Kingston Road near East Wiltshire Intermediate in Cornwall when a man approached them.
There was an “interaction” between the three teens and the 18-year-old man that continued for several minutes. During this interaction, the adult allegedly made threats against the students and then pulled out what the teens believed was a handgun.
They ran back to the school where teachers and school staff called police.
Because one of the boys recognized the man, Queens District RCMP officers were able to locate the suspect within 20 minutes, driving on the TransCanada Highway in Cornwall.
That’s when police did a "high-risk vehicle stop."
“That means we had our pistols and carbines out,” said Cpl. Chris Gunn of Queens District RCMP.
Gunn noted in his four years working in P.E.I. with the RCMP, he has never before performed a high-risk vehicle stop with weapons drawn.
“We took two males into custody, searched the vehicle and located two pellet guns handguns within the reach of both the driver and the passenger, and a third long gun in the trunk.”
The pellet guns were so real looking, officers believed the weapons were real and treated them as such.
The investigation into the incident continued through the evening, and as a result, one 18 year-old man from the Cornwall area was arrested, then released with strict conditions and will be appear in court later this month to face charges of uttering threats and various gun-related charges.
Despite the fact the weapon in this incident was a pellet gun, the man will face full weapons charges because, in the eyes of the law, a fake gun brandished as a real one faces the same penalties.
That’s why the RCMP is treating this as a serious incident and using it to raise awareness about these real-looking replica weapons.
“Imitation guns are very detailed and indistinguishable from a real gun," Gunn said. "If it looks like a gun, it is treated like a gun by police and the explanation of it being fake might come too late.”
The three students were unharmed and returned to school Thursday.
East Wiltshire principal Windsor Wight says everyone, including the parents of the students, school officials and police, was pleased with how the incident was handled.
“It’s close to home for sure,” Wight said.
“It’s unfortunate these things happened, but I think everybody involved, the kids and parents included, handled it very well. We met with the kids and staff this morning and everyone seemed to be alright with it and we just kind of moved on from it.”
The school counsellor was made available to the students, and Wight said they seemed fine.
“Although at the time it was a bit unnerving for sure.”
Twitter.com/GuardianTeresa
The incident happened just before 2 p.m. Wednesday.
The three 14-year-old boys were walking on Kingston Road near East Wiltshire Intermediate in Cornwall when a man approached them.
There was an “interaction” between the three teens and the 18-year-old man that continued for several minutes. During this interaction, the adult allegedly made threats against the students and then pulled out what the teens believed was a handgun.
They ran back to the school where teachers and school staff called police.
Because one of the boys recognized the man, Queens District RCMP officers were able to locate the suspect within 20 minutes, driving on the TransCanada Highway in Cornwall.
That’s when police did a "high-risk vehicle stop."
“That means we had our pistols and carbines out,” said Cpl. Chris Gunn of Queens District RCMP.
Gunn noted in his four years working in P.E.I. with the RCMP, he has never before performed a high-risk vehicle stop with weapons drawn.
“We took two males into custody, searched the vehicle and located two pellet guns handguns within the reach of both the driver and the passenger, and a third long gun in the trunk.”
The pellet guns were so real looking, officers believed the weapons were real and treated them as such.
The investigation into the incident continued through the evening, and as a result, one 18 year-old man from the Cornwall area was arrested, then released with strict conditions and will be appear in court later this month to face charges of uttering threats and various gun-related charges.
Despite the fact the weapon in this incident was a pellet gun, the man will face full weapons charges because, in the eyes of the law, a fake gun brandished as a real one faces the same penalties.
That’s why the RCMP is treating this as a serious incident and using it to raise awareness about these real-looking replica weapons.
“Imitation guns are very detailed and indistinguishable from a real gun," Gunn said. "If it looks like a gun, it is treated like a gun by police and the explanation of it being fake might come too late.”
The three students were unharmed and returned to school Thursday.
East Wiltshire principal Windsor Wight says everyone, including the parents of the students, school officials and police, was pleased with how the incident was handled.
“It’s close to home for sure,” Wight said.
“It’s unfortunate these things happened, but I think everybody involved, the kids and parents included, handled it very well. We met with the kids and staff this morning and everyone seemed to be alright with it and we just kind of moved on from it.”
The school counsellor was made available to the students, and Wight said they seemed fine.
“Although at the time it was a bit unnerving for sure.”
Twitter.com/GuardianTeresa
