What to know
- Toronto police say “a number” of schools received bomb threat voicemails early Tuesday, believed to be from the same caller.
- Bruce Jr. Public School and St. Augustine Seminary were evacuated and later cleared, with no injuries reported.
- The Toronto District School Board says it is taking the threats seriously and following established safety protocols while police continue investigating.
Toronto police are running an investigation after several schools in the city received bomb threats on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for police tells Now Toronto “a number” of schools received voicemails with bomb threats in the early morning hours.
Police found no evidence that the threats were credible, but said they “can’t go into details on that.”
On the other hand, minutes after the threat was revealed in a social media post, police said Bruce Jr. Public School in Leslieville and St. Augustine Seminary in Scarborough were both evacuated.
Students and staff returned to the schools after they were cleared by police, with no injuries reported.
The calls are believed to have come from the same person, and police are still investigating the incident.
A spokesperson for the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) says it takes threats very seriously, despite police suggesting they weren’t credible.
“We continue to support our schools and are sharing updates with parents at directly impacted schools as needed,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to Now Toronto.
According to TDSB’s Threats to School Safety Procedure shared by the spokesperson, protocols to deal with bomb threats over the phone include:
- Keep the caller on the phone as long as possible and record details of the call, including date, wording of the threat, caller’s name, and background noise.
- Notify the school’s principal as soon as possible of the call, or a representative of the principal, if they are not available.
- Notify the police and fire services of the threat.
- Attempt to trace the call if possible.
