Nanaimo District Secondary School and John Barsby Secondary School have been the venues of alleged offences involving a group of teens accused of conducting disturbing crimes (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

Youth crime

Police probe ‘awful acts’ by Nanaimo high school students, some charges laid

Nov 14, 2019 | 7:04 AM

NANAIMO — A group of high school students are accused of committing disturbing crimes, which in at least one case involved a weapon.

RCMP Cst. Gary O’Brien told NanaimoNewsNOW the group of four-to-six teenaged boys between 14 and 16-years-old are allegedly behind “awful acts” primarily in and around Nanaimo schools and have been more active in recent weeks.

“We’ve been aware of this group for about three or four months. This started in the north end and it sort of spawned throughout the school district. There have been some minor criminal code offences, the most significant being assault with a weapon where a pipe was used.”

O’Brien said the pipe attack occurred on Oct. 31 at a local high school. He said the victim in that case was armed with a baseball bat for protection.

To date, O’Brien said charges were laid against two to three members of the group, which he said is comprised of current and past SD 68 students.

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One of the charges was a robbery offence.

“There have been no random acts,” O’Brien said. “The people who are involved in these acts of violence are associated with this group.”

O’Brien said a lot of allegations and complaints against the group are made on social media and not to police.

“We just can’t respond that way,” O’Brien stressed. “If somebody has a concern and they want us to work with them they have to report them directly to us.”

He said in some cases victims did not cooperate with police.

A long thread on a Nanaimo-based Facebook group page created Wednesday Nov. 13 blew up with allegations against the group of teens and condemnation for its actions.

O’Brien said rumours of a stabbing victim in relation to the hostile group are not true.

A School District 68 statement from NDSS referenced the group’s existence and said the District is aware of the situation.

“This statement is not meant to alarm the public, but rather bring awareness as well as provide an opportunity to reinforce safety with our students,” the statement said.

NanaimoNewsNOW has reached out to the school district for further comment.

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes