A text message exchange shown to the ODT shows the 16-year-old allegedly responsible for Bayfield High School’s lockdown on Tuesday was trying to get his girlfriend, a student at the school, a day off.
His solution was to allegedly email a threat to the school.
The WhatsApp messages started at 8.05am with the teen’s girlfriend telling him "It’s so cold", and "I wanna go to bed", all in caps.
He then replied "I’ll warm you up," followed by a cat face emoji.
In the next message he said "real! I’ll send a ... threat to your school so you don’t have to go".
He replied, "Of course hun."
At 8.17am, police were alerted to a threatening email. The school was then put into lockdown and students who had not yet arrived were turned away at the gate.
The 16-year-old’s girlfriend then texted him: "were you serious we in lockdown".
Just over an hour later, she told her boyfriend: "Thanks, I get to go home — you really pulled through".
While the messages were being sent, armed police were dispatched to the school to escort students to their parents waiting outside after the school announced it was closing for the day.
Around 550 students and staff from the school were escorted from the premises.
Detective Senior Sergeant Nik Leigh said he understood "incidents like this can be distressing, and we hope this arrest can provide reassurance to the community".
"Police are working with the school and further charges may be likely."
The 16-year-old was due to appear in the Dunedin Youth Court charged with threatening to kill.
Bayfield High School principal Mark Jones said he was aware an arrest had been made, but the "disciplinary processes of the school would not be enacted as the individual was not a student at Bayfield High School".
"We trust that the justice system will deal appropriately with any and all individuals involved."
He thanked the students for being so calm and respectful, as well as the police for their quick and professional response. He also thanked the families of students for the way they dealt with the lockdown.
