Manitoba, Nova Scotia teens accused of planning simultaneous school attacks

A Manitoba boy and a girl in Nova Scotia are facing charges after they allegedly plotted together online to commit simultaneous attacks at their rural schools, police said Wednesday. 

Officers received information last week from Interpol and the FBI that two people had been talking online about their desire to attack schools in Rivers, Man., and Bridgewater, N.S. 

The 14-year-old boy from Rivers and 15-year-old girl from Bridgewater were arrested this week. The girl faces the most serious of the charges — conspiracy to commit murder.

On Monday in Manitoba, officers pulled over a school bus and arrested the boy. 

“We received information that the youth was on a school bus, that he was no longer at his residence. So, we wanted to act quickly and that was the safest way to take him in custody,” said RCMP Cpl. Melanie Roussel.

She added that the boy was unarmed. Mounties also seized electronic devices from the teen and from his home, as well as two firearms owned by a relative.

The firearms were seized because of the nature of the threats, Roussel said. She wouldn’t say if the firearms were registered.

On Tuesday, police said they searched a home in Bridgewater and found handwritten plans, imitation weapons, a roughly made imitation pipe bomb and assault rifle, and clothing with hate symbols.

Deputy Chief Danny MacPhee with Bridgewater police said the girl wasn’t home at the time but family members were. The suspect was later arrested a short distance away.

He said international police agencies provided information that an attack was not imminent, and it also helped that Nova Scotia students are on March break.

“This is a big win for us,” he said. “Any time that we can step in at a planning phase of some mass event is so much better for us as police, community, students than anybody walking into an active attack or a major incident.”

Neither of the teens can be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The girl, who is also charged with uttering threats, was arraigned in Bridgewater court Wednesday, and a bail hearing is set for next week. Police said they’re investigating whether hate crime and other offences could also be laid.

The boy is also charged with uttering threats, and RCMP said additional charges are also possible. He’s scheduled to appear in court next month in Brandon, Man.

Police allege the pair began talking online at the end of February.

But they say there’s no indication their alleged plan were spurred by the mass killing in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.

On Feb. 10, an 18-year-old girl in that community shot and killed her mother and half-brother at home before gunning down five students and a teacher’s aide at a school. Jesse Van Rootselaar then killed herself.

In the days that followed, it emerged that she had created an online game simulating a shooting massacre in a shopping mall and that she was banned last year from ChatGPT last year over problematic interactions.

MacPhee said investigators located some personal property of the accused in Bridgewater that contained names of several North American mass attackers and the crimes they committed.

Police in Manitoba said they have seen an influx of reports of online threats but couldn’t say what’s driving them. 

“We take all these school threats very seriously, and we look into each one of them. We will investigate them until we find where these threats are coming from,” said Roussel. 

Rivers Collegiate is a Grade 7-12 school in the community about 250 kilometres west of Winnipeg. Its website says it has about 140 students.

The Rolling River School Division said it’s working with the RCMP to address any safety concerns. 

“The (division’s) focus is on the safety and well-being of the students and staff,” Supt. Jason Cline said in an email. 

“Rivers Collegiate is working with the division administration and clinical services to ensure supports are in place for both students and staff.”

Bridgewater, about 100 kilometres southwest of Halifax, is a regional centre for other nearby towns and villages.

The school district that oversees the Grade 10-12 Park View Education Centre in Bridgewater, with about 880 students, said in an email that it was notified by police about the arrest.

“We have arranged for additional support to be available at the school next week for students and have reminded staff of the range of available resources,” said Ashley Dixon with South Shore Regional Centre for Education.

The Nova Scotia government said it has been in close contact with the district following the arrest and that additional support would be available for students at Park View next week.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2026.