Police have charged a male youth with attempted murder – one of 15 charges related to a violent attack on a 16-year-old outside a St. John’s high school on Thursday.
Among the other charges are aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and willful disguise, all of which stem from an incident at the Prince of Wales Collegiate just before noon on Thursday.
The RNC’s media officer James Cadigan said several units responded to a call to the school – including the Operational Patrol Unit, Forensics Unit, Criminal Investigation Unit and Police Dog Service – at the school, where they say several attackers attacked a 16-year-old man with weapons.
The victim is still in serious but stable condition at Janeway Children’s Hospital, said Cadigan, who could not provide details on the nature of the teenager’s injuries.
Cadigan said they believe the attack was targeted and occurred around 11:40 a.m. outside the school’s main entrance. Police have provided few details about the youths in custody and will not say if they are students at the school, what type of weapons were used, or how many attackers were involved.
“It is very important that the witness information that we receive here through our interviews and our processes is not influenced by anything that we release publicly,” he said.
The teenager, who is under 18 and therefore cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, appeared in court by phone from Whitbourne on Friday afternoon.
He has been ordered out of contact with 28 people and is due to return for a bail hearing next week.
Police have assembled a large case management team to investigate and are looking for video evidence from an area around the school including Paton Street, Elizabeth Avenue, Anderson Avenue, Stabb Court, Keegan Court, Cowperthwaite Court and Mitchell Court.
“We are really looking for videos in that area of the city that we mentioned to give us more details and evidence of how the events from 11:30am to 12:30pm played out [in the] afternoon,” Cadigan said.
He also said police are looking for videos that witnesses may have taken or posted on social media.
“That’s a big part of any investigation in the world we live in now. Surely in this age group you look at apps like Snapchat, Instagram and so on. These are applications that contain information useful for our investigation.”
Cadigan said parents may also have learned details about the attack from their children, who may be “fearful of those believed to be responsible for the attack.”
Cadigan says anyone with information who doesn’t want to get involved with the police can report it anonymously to Crime Stoppers.
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