An 18-year-old male faces charges after an "offensive and threatening" YouTube video surfaced targeting Kildonan East Collegiate students.
Police charged Wyatt Kuran with uttering threats, four counts of harassing communications, and mischief under $5,000/obstructing enjoyment.
In a video titled “Wiping Out Kildonan East,” posted to an anonymous YouTube account, a male voice can be heard rapping over a still picture of the school.
In the song, the speaker insults students at the school, often by name, and ends with the line, “Your building is weak, and that’s all that I’ve said. Until you guys hit me back, boom, school dead.” The sound of machine gun fire can then be heard on the track.
A mother of a child at the school was concerned after the first video was posted, and she raised her concerns with a few individuals to see if something could be done. It wasn’t until her daughter came home visibly upset, that she took it one step further.
“Wednesday night my daughter came upstairs frantic, and she was bawling in hysterics,” said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous for privacy reasons.
Her daughter saw a Facebook post at about 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday. They called police immediately and called the school right after.
She said the school was quick to act and was very helpful in assisting the police in giving them as much information as they could.
Kildonan East Collegiate sent a message to parents Thursday afternoon alerting them of an “offensive and threatening video” posted online. Later Thursday evening, the school sent out a message telling parents an arrest had been made.
On Friday, police said the Major Crimes Unit began investigating and located the suspect around 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
River East Transcona School Division superintendent Kelly Barkman said the school was made aware of the video Thursday morning. He said the school went into "high alert, which means all the doors were locked, except for the front door."
Staff at the school monitored hallways and the school grounds, and police were quickly notified, said Barkman. The principal also spoke to students and told them about the video.
In an email from Kildonan East Collegiate to parents, obtained by CTV Winnipeg, the school said: "We are sending this email to alert parents and guardians that an offensive and threatening video regarding KEC has been posted on social media. Police have been contacted and the school is being diligent in following protocols around school safety. Safety is a top priority for us and we take these situations very seriously. Please use this as an opportunity to remind your student about safe and respectful behaviour at school and about the appropriate use of social media. Working together, we can keep our school community safe."
Barkman confirmed that some of the people mentioned in the video are students at Kildonan East Collegiate.
“They were interviewed by our staff and parents were notified," he said. "We’re working with them and making sure that we have counsellors and other staff available for not only those students that are mentioned, but any staff or students that need to have somebody listen to them.”
A similar video was posted to the same YouTube account four months earlier, in September 2015, that also spews hatred for the school and its students.
Barkman said the school division will not speculate who made the videos or how serious the intent is behind it, but they are taking it very seriously.
“We know that the school will continue to work with the police and continue to monitor the situation very closely,” he said.
Friday is an exam day, said Barkman. Starting next week, the school will begin reviewing protocols try to determine what lessons can be learned from this incident.
“The threats that this kid made were pretty damaging. Threats of killing people, and bodies in the river and guns and, you know, it was just horrifying. There’s nothing that a parent could feel more shocked at is knowing that your kids go to that school and this could potentially happening considering as to what just happened in Saskatchewan. So it’s an eye-opener,” said the mother.
The woman said that the school instructed parents to contact YouTube to get them to take the video down. It has since been removed.
“I think it was serious enough to take action. I think he could have escalated it even further, from the first video, to the second video, were dramatically different in the threats,” said the mother.
