Teen in custody, replica firearm seized after gun threat puts Ontario school into lockdown

A teen is in custody and his replica firearm gun has been seized after reports of a gunman forced an Oakville, Ontario school into lockdown. At 2:30 pm on Tuesday, reports of a gunman on campus forced White Oaks Secondary School in Oakville into lockdown.

Halton Regional Police responded to the threat and detained a suspect. The lockdown was lifted at 3:30 pm.

According to a statement released by the Halton Regional Police, the suspect is a 16-year-old male. When officers placed him in custody, they discovered and seized a replica handgun.

"The Halton Regional Police Service would like to remind members of the public that replica firearms pose a significant threat to the community," the force wrote. "They appear to be real to both members of the public and the police. When reports of a potential firearm are received, Officers must respond assuming they are real, which increases risk to the person in possession of the replica firearm, the police, and members of the public."

The investigation is ongoing, and as such, the police are asking anyone with information to come forward, or contact Crime Stoppers anonymously.

This is the second time in the past week that schools in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) has been locked down due to threats of a man with a gun.

On Friday, a rifle-wielding man was spotted in the Port Union neighbourhood of Scarborough, sending nearby William G. Davis Junior Public School into lockdown.

The 27-year-old man was eventually shot dead by police, who discovered that the firearm in question was actually a pellet gun.

Schools across North America have been on high alert since last Tuesday's mass shooting in Uvalde, TX where nineteen students and two teachers were murdered at an elementary school.