'Get down on your knees or I'll shoot': Montreal boy, 13, allegedly shot fellow students with a pellet gun

A Montreal Police badge is shown during a news conference in Montreal, Monday, October 7, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

MONTREAL -

A criminal investigation is underway after a 13-year-old student from Ecole Secondaire de la Pointe-aux-Trembles allegedly shot three fellow students using an air gun last week.

The boy allegedly ordered the students to “get down on their knees or I’ll shoot,” according to Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant.

The incident occurred on a soccer field on Oct. 26 at the school located at 15200 Sherbrooke Street East.

Brabant told CTV News the school did not report the alleged shooting to police until Oct. 29.

“No one was injured, but it was a pellet gun, which can really hurt,” said Brabant, explaining that the weapon in question uses air compression to shoot small, metal, sometimes cylindrical types of projectiles.

So far the student does not face any charges but police have opened an investigation, and Brabant said if they conclude “there was an intent to hurt someone,” they could recommend charges be laid.

The investigators will also try and determine how the boy got the air gun, which the police have now seized for analysis.

The 13-year-old is currently under suspension by the school, according to the Centre de services scolaires de la Pointe-de-l’Ile.

"No weapons, real or fake, are tolerated in our schools," a statement by the service centre read, adding that it is clearly against the high school's code of conduct. 

The service centre said two students alerted a staff member on Oct. 26 to the incident, claiming the gun shot plastic balls, more like a Nerf toy. They were unable to identify the suspect.

The worker said the students "did not feel threatened," or afraid but they wanted to denounce the presence of the toy gun on the soccer field.

"In this context and with the facts that were reported to us, the parents of the students present on the soccer field were not informed," the service centre stated.

The follow day, the students identified the boy in question and he was asked to retrieve the air gun from his home. The item was confiscated, the boy's parents were notified and the student was suspended.