Snapchat used to make mass shooting threat in Kamloops
RCMP did not dub the threat a hoax, instead called it "unsubstantiated"
Jun. 19, 2018 12:25 p.m.
—Kamloops this Week
Kamloops RCMP could not identify the source of what it is calling an "unsubstantiated threat" last week that circulated via social media and text messages.
Extra patrols were conducted downtown over the weekend after information spread regarding a supposed "mass shooting" planned for downtown.
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Kamloops RCMP Cpl. Jodi Shelkie said a threat via Snapchat was reported to police on Friday night.
"We investigated the origin of the threat as far as we could," she said. "We made extra patrols in the downtown area, as we would for any threat. We take all threats seriously."
Police aren't saying what the threat was because "we've learned through the school system that people like to do copycats," Shelkie said.
Text messages viewed by KTW warned of avoiding the city's downtown core "for your own safety there will be a mass shooting."
The threat did not come to fruition, but the scare came days after a shooting in Sahali. Shelkie would not go so far as to dub the threat a hoax — instead calling it "unsubstantiated" — but she said anyone who receives such a threat should immediately contact Kamloops RCMP by calling 250-828-3000.
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"Whatever means they receive it through, if it's social media, save that screenshot, to know where it came from, the time and the date," Shelkie said. "Give the police a call and give us all of the information that you know, including the screenshot."
Shelkie said threats within the community are uncommon, but do occur on occasion within schools.
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