5 teens charged with lighting flares in Cape Breton Walmart, high school
Five Cape Breton teenagers have been charged in connection with stolen flares that were set off in the North Sydney Walmart and Memorial High School in Sydney Mines over the last three weeks.
Cape Breton Regional Police said in a statement that the arrests were made Thursday.
Two 17-year-old boys, one from Millville and the other from Long Island, along with a 15-year-old boy from Florence have been charged with mischief over $5,000 and being a common nuisance for setting off a flare at Walmart on Nov. 6.
Two of them are also accused of breaching probation orders under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. They were held at the Cape Breton Correctional Centre until court appearances Friday.
The third was released on a promise to appear in court Jan. 10.
Police said earlier this month that flares were stolen from an abandoned business in North Sydney. It's still not clear how many are unaccounted for.
The Walmart flare incident was followed by two at Memorial High, necessitating evacuations.
A boy, 15, and a girl, 14, from Sydney Mines are charged with mischief over $5,000 for separately lighting flares at the school on Nov. 9 and Nov. 22.
They have a court date of Jan. 3.
Investigators said they anticipate more arrests in the Nov. 22 incident.
Meanwhile, the North Sydney Walmart remained closed through Black Friday. The doors have not opened since Nov. 6 while the store received a top-to-bottom cleaning.
A power outage Thursday delayed the planned reopening Friday.
A Walmart spokesman said the Black Friday sale will be held Saturday. The store will also increase security for the next week or so
