Teen charged with attempted murder after violent attack at St. John's school

Police have charged a male youth with attempted murder one of 15 charges laid in relation to aviolent attack on a 16-year-old outside a St. John's high school Thursday.

Among the other charges are aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, and disguise with intent, all stemming from an incident at Prince of Wales Collegiate just before noon onThursday.

The RNC's media relations officer, James Cadigan, said multiple units responded to a call to the school including the operation patrol division, forensics, criminal investigation division and the police dog service to the school, where they say multiple assailants with weapons had attacked a 16-year-old male.

The victim is still at the Janeway children's hospital in serious but stable condition, saidCadigan, who could not provide details on the nature of the teen's injuries.

Cadigan said they believe the attack was targeted, and happened outside the school's main entrance at about 11:40 a.m. Police have provided few details about the youth in custody and will not say if they are a student at the school, what type of weapons used, or how many attackers were involved.

"It's very important that the witness information we receive here through our interviews and our processes is not impacted by anything we put out in the public," he said.

The teen, who is under 18 and so can't be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, appeared in court by phone from Whitbourne on Friday afternoon.

He has been ordered to have no contact with 28 peopleand is due back next week for a bail hearing.

Police have put together a major case management team to investigate and are searching 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 really are looking for any video in that region of the city we mentioned to provide us with further detail and evidence to how the events played out right from 11:30 in the morning to 12:30 [in the] afternoon," Cadigan said.

He also said police are looking for video that any witnesses may have taken or posted to social media.

"That's a big part of any investigation in the world we live in now. Certainly, with that age group you look at apps like Snapchat, Instagram, and so on. These are applications that are going to contain information that are useful to our investigation."

Cadigan said parents may have also learned details about the attack from their children, who may be "fearful of the individuals believed to be responsible for attack."

Cadigan says anyone with information who doesn't wish to get involved with the police can report it anonymously to Crime Stoppers.

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