Five students, all under the age of 18, have been arrested and charged after violent online threats targeting schools were reported to police.
Ontario Provincial Police aren't releasing the names of the schools but say they are in the Alliston area all the way up to Wasaga. The fear is that by identifying the schools the young offenders may also be identified.
The postings began to appear on social media last month, five days after the Parkland, Florida shooting that killed 17 people.
Details aren't being made public over exactly what the threats were but the postings did picture weapons. "They were firearms and they were of an airsoft capacity. When you look at these images they look very real," explains Sgt. Peter Leon. "If you put two firearms side-by-side, a real one versus an airsoft weapon, it would be very difficult to figure out which is which."
All five students have been charged with uttering threats and have been released on bail.
There was a sixth student investigated but police couldn't lay charges because the child is under the age of 12 and too young to be criminally charged.
The students may be returning from March Break to learn they're being suspended from school.