Quebec teen arrested over website death threats
Last Updated: Monday, September 18, 2006 | 5:48 PM ET
CBC News
A 15-year-old boy arrested Monday morning in connection to online threats targeting students at a Hudson high school has been charged with uttering threats.
Police said the website vampirefreaks.com was used to post death threats against students at Westwood High School in Hudson.
The same website was used by Kimveer Gill, 25, before he went on a shooting rampage at Montreal's Dawson College last week, killing one woman.
The teen appeared in a Salaberry-de-Valleyfield courtroom hours after officers with La Sûreté du Québec arrested him at his home in Saint-Clet, near Hudson. He cannot be named because he is a minor.
Crown prosecutors opposed his request for bail, and the judge ordered the teen to remain in custody until his bail hearing Tuesday.
SQ officers picked up the teen just before 5 a.m. Monday, after several people called police Sunday to alert them about the postings.
It was not immediately clear how serious the threats were, but police said they were not taking any chances after the Dawson shootings.
"[Officers] are mentioning the person would possibly take up arms to do what Mr. Gill had done at Dawson College," said SQ spokesman Jayson Gauthier.
"They were serious enough and similar enough to the ones made at Dawson College, that we could not take any chances on this, and wait any longer," said Gauthier.
Police wouldn't say whether the suspect, who is a student at Westwood, had access to any weapons. The boy's home is being searched and his computer has been seized for analysis.
Parents, students on edge
Students at Westwood High School and their parents were on edge Monday after news of the threats spread across town. The school's flags were flying at half-mast to remember victims of the Dawson College shootings, and the threats against Hudson students hit too close to home, said some parents.
"I wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything should happen," said Carol McCormick, who came to the high school to pick up her son, Andrew. "He asked me to pick him up, so I picked him up," she said, her voice breaking.
Many students left school early because of the threats. Police officers were posted at Westwood High School to patrol the area and provide additional security.
Website under scrutiny
The teen's arrest has fuelled questions about vampirefreaks.com, the contentious goth webpage that Dawson College shooter Gill used to host his blog and profile.
Some observers have condemned the website and its perspective, contending it encourages violent behaviour. The connection is not so clear, according to University of Ottawa criminologist Wade Deisman.
The website provides an online community for people who may feel marginalized in their regular lives. "It may be the case that they end up helping each other out, by sharing their feelings, by feeling a sense of common identity," said Deisman.
But that communion can also also turn dark, he added. "When like-minded people come together and they share common values, there is a tendency for those values to become more extreme," said Deisman.
The creator and webmaster behind the U.S.–based website did not return CBC's calls, but defended the site in a message posted after the Dawson shootings.
"We do not condone or influence this type of behaviour in any way," wrote Jethro Berelson. "I do think this event is a tragedy, but I feel that this site is wrongly being associated with the shooting."
