

Joshua Freeman, CP24.com





A 22-year-old man has been arrested in London, England in connection with an online threat that caused a lockdown of Wilfrid Laurier University’s Waterloo campus Friday.

“Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Service arrested a 22 year old male in Tottenham Hale, northern London, United Kingdom, on suspicion of malicious communication and he currently remains in custody pending further information,” Waterloo Regional police said in a news release Saturday morning.

Wilfrid Laurier’s Waterloo campus was shut down for nearly six hours Friday morning after police and university officials decided to enact emergency procedures with regards to the threat.

According to Laurier officials, the school received a tip from the FBI after a threat against the school’s science building was detected on the online message board site 4chan.org. Police said the wording was similar to that of a similar online threat that preceded a deadly Oct. 1 shooting at a campus in Oregon.

Police also said Friday that the threat appears to have emanated from outside the country.

Waterloo police said further details about the arrest were not immediately available and that they are continuing to investigate in collaboration with the RCMP, the National Cyber Crime Unit, the FBI and the MPS.