Georgetown lockdown follow-up

New details about a high school lockdown in Georgetown on Thursday.

Three teenage boys have been charged and police say the youths were seen on surveillance video pointing replica guns at other students. .

CHCH News was on scene at Georgetown High School Thursday when Halton Regional Police officers found 1 of the 4 replica guns that sent the school into a three hour lockdown.

In the video, police are seen hoisting an officer who checks behind a school sign on the football field. To the untrained eye, the officer comes down with what looks like a gun in hand but the guns that sparked mass panic at the school were toys used in the school’s drama department.

Three boys ranging from the ages of 14 to 17 have been charged with theft and being in possession of weapons dangerous to public peace.

“Weapons dangerous is a serious criminal offence and obviously the circumstances yesterday will be taken into account.” says Kevin Maher, Inspector for the Halton Regional Police Services.

Circumstances that saw a heavy police presence tied up at the school for hours.

The Halton Tactical Unit as well as K-9 and uniform officers combed through the large highschool looking for the suspected gunmen. Students and staff had to remain inside the building, hiding under desks and were only released in sections.

Halton Regional Police say the three hour lockdown caused parents to panic and say some staff and students who were in the building the longest, are traumatized.

Worried parents, who weren’t able to speak to their children, were reassured by police that no one was injured. Police saying these incidents are taken very seriously.

“The school setting is a very sensitive area with everything that has happened over the last 20 years. Any kind of replica firearm, toy firearm there’s no place for it in the general hallways, student area” says Maher.