Sarnia boy identified in threatening social media video
Sarnia police have identified the local boy behind a threatening social media video. The video appeared on YouTube and Facebook and showed an hysterical boy threatening the city.
"Basically he was screaming, appeared to be crying at times and he made comments that he wanted someone to do damage to Sarnia. Basically the comment on Facebook was nuking Sarnia. Obviously it seemed a little far-fetched but the bigger concern was the well-being of the young boy," said Const. Giovanni Sottosanti with Sarnia police.
Basically the comment on Facebook was nuking Sarnia - Const. Giovanni Sottosanti, Sarnia Police Services
Several members of the public flagged the video to police. Officers found the 12-year-old local boy behind it. He is not facing any charges.
"The young male created that video actually almost a year ago now... but somehow [the video] was put on social media again or regained a life of its own. We're not sure exactly," added Sottosanti.
Sottosanti said at first police didn't know what to make of the video. Their main concern was the boy's well-being and officers have spoken to his parents.
It's not clear if the video has since been removed. Sottosanti says they've notified the necessary social media companies and it's up to those companies to pull the post.
Sottosanti said police deal with many social media issues, but this kind of threat was a first for him.
