It seems the threat of gang initiations with firearms in North Battleford was simply a rumor that got blown out of proportion.
That was the view at North Battleford city council Monday, though administration used far stronger language to describe it.
City Manager Jim Toye used the word "sensationalism" repeatedly to describe the rumor that got posted on social media on the weekend about the prospect of gang initiations involving firearms in North Battleford.
"It might have seemed to somebody to be something funny to put on social media," said Toye.
"But those things, people do take them serious, and it was an attempt at sensationalism."
Council also made it known they didn't appreciate the weekend media coverage that fanned the flames of the story across the province.
The media spotlight was focused on the city Saturday after Battlefords RCMP detachment issued a release in which they said they were "made aware of a mass text messageas well as Facebook posts advising of possible gang initiations involving firearms targeting random people in the community of North Battleford."
RCMP went on to say they were actively investigating, but added "these mass messages should not in any way inhibit the public from their normal daily activities."
It is unclear how the rumors started, but it ended up spreading quickly. The rumor was picked up at the Facebook page entitled North Battleford Victims of Crime. There, commenters posted Saturday they had heard "gang initiation" activity was meant to take place that very weekend.
After the RCMP media release went out, the "gang initiation" and "firearms" rumor became a top story on media outlets across Saskatchewan, including CBC News, CKOM radio and CTV News.
CTV went so far as to send a reporter to the Walmart parking lot to do interviews with three local residents on the weekend. In the story that aired, residents expressed their fears of possible random shootings in the city.
The weekend media onslaught followed what has been a bad few weeks of news coverage focusing on crime in North Battleford.
Among the stories was the recent shooting in which three people were arrested - the second such incident this year. The accused are due back in court Sept. 18.
Before that, the StarPhoenix ran a front-page story that focused on North Battleford's number-one-in-Canada crime severity rating. The now infamous story drew criticism at city council in August from both Councillor Greg Lightfoot and Councillor Ryan Bater.
The latest news portrayal of city residents living in fear prompted another round of outrage by Bater, this time at CTV.
Bater said, "there was a CTV story, today, which really angered me because they came here yesterday I believe, and interviewed three people at the Walmart parking lot and considered that 'investigative journalism' and painted another negative blight on our city."
"The email suggested that there was supposed to be some kind of gang initiations and there was going to be some kind of violent activity that was random, which according to CTV caused our city to live in fear for the weekend. I'm not sure that's the case because a lot of us were walking our dogs, getting groceries, having fun with friends and going about our lives and not living in fear, but I'm just curious, to satisfy those that have been asking, has the City received any information from the local RCMP detachment that there was any validity to the rumor?"
Toye responded it was "an attempt at sensationalism by one or two people on Facebook that went a bit viral in our community."
He said the RCMP stance was there was nothing different in the city of North Battleford, that "if you mind your own business and do your own thing you should be fine."
Toye added the RCMP never had a "red alert" advising people to stay home. "It was business as usual, pretty much." The city was quiet on the crime front over the weekend, he added.
He described the messages as a "poor attempt - someone's poor judgment."
Bater accepted Toye's response and gave a word of advice to people who are witness to criminal activity in the city.
"Before you update your status on Facebook, before you text your friends, phone the RCMP or Crime Stoppers. Phone the authorities first, because they're the ones who have the power to deal with it."
Mayor Ian Hamilton added in his comments that CTV News had attempted to contact him but they were unable to do an interview. He adds they will be talking to the RCMP as well.
