Two more schools issued 'secure and hold' in Chetwynd

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Chetwynd Secondary School and Windrem Elementary School were issued a ‘secure and hold’ on the morning of February 17th. (Google Maps)

Update, February 17th, 1.50 p.m.: The ‘secure and hold’ was lifted at 1.45 p.m.

CHETWYND, B.C. — Two schools in the Peace region have been locked down this morning.

School District 59 (SD59) put Chetwynd Secondary School and Windrem Elementary School into a ‘secure and hold’ on the morning of February 17th.

According to an update on SD59’s page, the two schools entered the secure and hold, “out of an abundance of caution.”

These are the second and third schools to be locked down in the days following the Tumbler Ridge shooting, when eight people were killed by a shooter, who also died, at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School on February 10th.

Dawson Creek Secondary School was put under a short-lived ‘secure and hold’ on February 12th between 1.15 p.m. and 1.38 p.m.

The SD59 update today said the RCMP is working closely with the school through this process.

A ‘hold and secure’ is a safety procedure where schools take action such as lock exterior doors and monitor surrounding areas, according to School District 60. It said, in the event of a hold and secure, students continue to learn in classrooms and no one is allowed to leave the building.