Mounties in Alberta say there’s been an uptick in calls for people with a weapon and school lockdowns since the mass school shooting in Tumbler Ridge.
An RCMP spokesman says that he can’t say with certainty that the increase is connected with the shooting that left nine dead last Tuesday, but it is unusual and Mounties believe people have been more sensitive to the tragedy.
“Having those (calls) in that short amount of time is more than what is standard,” Cpl. Troy Savinkoff said in a phone interview on Sunday.
“We certainly can’t disprove that the recent event in Tumbler Ridge has brought those sensitivities … Obviously, due to the recent extremely unfortunate incident, we’re trying to be accountable to that.”
Savinkoff said Mounties received four calls for a person with a weapon in the last week in the southern town of High River, the northern city of Fort McMurray, in the west-central town of Edson, and in Sherwood Park, a hamlet located east of Edmonton.
The calls forced several surrounding schools into either a lockdown or a hold-and-secure status for hours, he said.
In lockdowns, students, teachers and staff remain in place until a call has been resolved, while a hold-and-secure status means a school has locked its doors but classes are proceeding as usual.
Savinkoff said only the call in Edson resulted in charges after a suspect threw beef jerky at students while screaming Bible verses and then shot what sounded like a gun three times in front of a principal before fleeing the scene.
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“That firearm ended up being a cap gun and the suspect who is a 39-year-old from B.C. was charged with multiple offences,” Savinkoff said.
Mounties responded to the second call for a student with a weapon a day after the Tumbler Ridge shooting on Wednesday in Fort McMurray.
Although the student was not carrying a gun, Savinkoff said investigators believe he previously brought one to school.
“That investigation is ongoing,” he said.
On the same day, officers responded to a call for a person believed to be carrying a firearm in a Sherwood Park park near two schools, that were later ordered to lockdown.
That report was deemed unfounded.
“We don’t believe that the caller was trying to mislead police. We just think that they were mistaken,” Savinkoff said.
A fourth call was made to Mounties two days after the Tumbler Ridge shooting.
The RCMP spokesman said the caller told police a shooter was coming to school that day and Mounties believe the caller was using a software to disguise their voice.
Adam Lankford, a professor in the University of Alabama’s criminology and criminal justice department, says the uptick is not surprising as his research in the United States has found that the emotions people feel after a mass shooting are strong.
“And in some cases, fear may be causing people to overreact or err on the side of caution … so they’re reporting more,” said Lankford, who is also chair of his department.
“Likely the answer is both.”
Even though the chances of another mass shooting are low, the fear communities feel in the aftermath is high.
“It’s kind of like an earthquake or other natural disasters where what you have to lose is so great that it’s not necessarily reassuring that it is unlikely to happen,” he said.
And while people in the United States or war-torn countries may become numb to certain types of tragedy, in a place like Canada, where school shootings are rare, the fear can linger.
“If you live somewhere with the idea that this can’t happen here, and then it does, it can be kind of shocking to your world view.”
Savinkoff said Mounties are encouraging people to continue calling police guilt-free if they do believe someone is armed.
“Early detection of these incidents is extremely important. It’s truly the type of file where seconds count,” he said.
RCMP in Alberta did respond to the shooting in Tumbler Ridge and so the deaths in British Columbia have hit the service hard, he added.
“Even though it’s a different province, it was close to Alberta so it has been a tough last week for all police.”
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