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WEDNESDAY March 9, 2016 • www.langleytimes.com
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langleytimes.com
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E N T E R TA I N M E N T Fort Teen Wins National Pageant
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‘Slow down’ begs mom of Langley teen killed in crash Police say speed was likely a factor in weekend crash that killed 15-year-old Lidia Ramos MONIQUE TAMMINGA Times Reporter
MI RANDA GATHE RCOLE Langl ey Ti mes
R.E. Mountain Secondary students watched from across the road as RCMP searched the school Friday morning. Police were called after a person reported seeing a man near the high school acting strangely and holding what appeared to be a gun. The item turned out to be a barbecue lighter and the man was arrested and detained under the Mental Health Act.
Code red at Mountain Secondary Police descend on high school after suspicious man spotted with what looked like a gun MONIQUE TAMMINGA Times Reporter
There were some tense moments on Friday morning, when a man was seen near R.E Mountain Secondary, acting strangely and carrying what was thought to be a gun. It turned out to be a barbecue lighter with a trigger, said police. At the same time Friday morning, the principal had been notified that there were some students carrying on an online conversation about the school being ‘shot up’ on Friday, said Langley RCMP. Compounding that was the fact one of the students involved in that conversation didn’t show up to school that day. That sent the school into a rare code red lockdown, with police quickly descending on the school. The suspicious armed man standing across from the school was arrested.
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“The individual arrested near the school was detained under the Mental Health Act and taken to hospital,” said Langley RCMP spokesperson Holly Largy. He did have a barbecue lighter with a trigger in his possession that may have been mistaken for a gun, she confirmed. It was a student who saw the man and reported to the school that he was acting strangely and appeared to be armed. No charges are being considered against the man. A code red remained in effect while police tried to track down the student who hadn’t arrived to school. Air One was in the sky, police dogs were called in as was the Emergency Response Team. “The reason there was such a heavy police presence is because there were two concerning things happening at the school at the same time,” Largy explained.
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The lockdown was lifted by 10:30 a.m. and a school-wide assembly was called with the principal and Langley RCMP informing everyone, including some concerned parents who had arrived, that they were safe and the issue had been concluded. Police had found the student in question and there wasn’t a threat to the school. “Everyone has been spoken to and I think they see that this is the kind of action police have to take when conversations about schools being shot up go on,” she said. “We believe they see the seriousness of that. No charges are being sought.” Code yellow lockdowns are more common than red. A code yellow lockdown means the threat is outside the school. In those cases the building’s outer doors are locked and students remain indoors.
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Brookswood Secondary student Lidia Ramos was supposed to celebrate her 16th birthday this week. Instead, her family and friends are mourning her death in a car crash near Mission early Sunday morning. Lidia, who was in Grade 10, had told her parents she was sleeping over at a friend’s house but instead had gone that night to a bonfire party off a logging road in Mission. Mission RCMP LI DI A said around 1 RAM OS a.m., four young people were driving back from the bonfire along switchback roads during a heavy rainstorm. Lidia was riding in the backseat of the 1999 Nissan Sentra. There were three young men in the vehicle with her. The driver, a 21-year-old Langley man, lost control on the muddy turns coming down the road. The vehicle slid 15 feet down an embankment and came to rest on its passenger side, with the roof against a tree, said Mission RCMP. Continued Page 3
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