Wellington High School lockdown for ‘credible’ threat possibly linked to White Supremacy – police

By RNZ’s Hamish Cardwell

A closure at Wellington High School was due to a “serious and credible” threat with possible ties to white supremacy, police told the principal, but there is no evidence that it targets LGBTQI people.

This afternoon, police said a young man had been charged in connection with an online threat that caused the school to close.

The school was closed this morning, but the situation has now been resolved and the police are talking to two people.

Principal Dominic Killalea said police told them this morning, just before classes started, there had been a “serious and credible imminent threat” of a “school shooting.”

He said the threat did not come from a student at the school and that there was not much he could say while police investigated.

RNZ asked Killalea to confirm whether there was any association with white supremacists.

“That’s the only thing that the police have shared with us, that there could be an association with that,” he said. “I can confirm the… extreme right… involvement.”

Some outlets have reported that members of the LGBTQI community at the school were specifically targeted, but police said no specific group was targeted for the threat.

Killalea said a student had spoken with a staff member earlier in the week about a possible threat.

“As far as we knew, there was nothing in that, [were] without screenshots or names, there was nothing to present to the police.

“I want to be clear, we still don’t have any link between that and today’s incident, so we don’t know if they are related and the police do not know if they are related.”

In an email to parents, Killalea wrote that “nothing the police reported to me this morning had any link to the Rainbow community and this should have been verified with the police.”

“I do not know if there is any link and I am sure we will know more in the next few days; the only thing the police told me about the incident was that the person had posted images on social media linking him to the extreme right and Nazi extremism. “.

Killalea told RNZ that police warned the school around 8:30 a.m. of the threat and that an officer was at the school during the lockdown.

He said the response from the students and staff was “fantastic.”

“The response in the situation was absolutely what we wanted. The children did what they were asked to do without a hitch, followed all the instructions and acted appropriately.

“Everyone I met was very calm and I walked into a couple of classrooms and the kids were great, they all responded very well.”

Killalea said staff would monitor the students and take care of them in the coming days in case some were affected by what happened.

Police said anyone with information should contact them at 105, citing file number 201126/3921.

– RNZ