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Student who talked about school shootings not guilty of uttering threats

A 13-year-old boy did not utter threats when he told a school counsellor he had considered carrying out a school shooting, a NWT territorial judge ruled Monday.

Judge Christine Gagnon found the boy, who can't be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, not guilty on three counts of uttering threats.The youth was arrested and charged on March 19 after staff at a Yellowknife school alerted police of a "potential threat," four days earlier.

The case went to trial in June after the student pleaded not guilty. A counsellor at the school, who had been seeing the youth on a regular basis, testified she was "shocked and taken aback," when a discussion about guns led to the topic of school shootings.

She said she asked the 13-year-old if he’d ever considered carrying out a school shooting, to which he replied "yes," reaffirming his answer a second time after the question was raised again. When questioned further, both the counsellor and the school's principal testified the boy identified a number of students he'd thought of targeting.

The boy's lawyer, Peter Harte, argued during the trial that to convict someone of being honest with their counsellor would be "extremely problematic."

Harte maintained his client's comments were never intended as threats, and that he didn't have the means to carry out a school shooting. He contended the youth answered leading questions coming from adults in a candid and trusting context.

Following the trial, it was up to Gagnon to decide whether or not the youth's comments constituted a threat. On Monday, she ruled they did not.

In handing down her decision, Gagnon said context was the crux of the case.

The counselling session, she said, began with talks about the youth's "unhealthy" fascination with guns, but took a turn as a result of the counsellor's questioning.

"There's a difference between (the youth) saying it and him answering questions that morphed" into a discussion about school shootings,  said Gagnon.

Gagnon said the boy did not express outright he wanted to commit a school shooting, but rather answered "yes," to whether he thought about it.

The counsellor, Gagnon said, "took the conversation to another level by asking about partaking in a school shooting."

Due to the context of the comments, Gagnon concluded the boy's words weren't intended as threats.

Nevertheless, Gagnon called the counselling session "disturbing," and said school staff did the right thing in intervening. However, she said any cause for concern should be addressed by mental health professionals, not through criminal prosecution.

Gagnon told the youth and his mother, who sat with him in court, she hopes the trial has helped to identify some of the boy's "vulnerabilities."

A peace bond, sought by the Crown to ensure the youth doesn't communicate with a number of students, was denied by Gagnon.

The boy recently graduated from Grade 8 after being removed from the school following his arrest.