Couckuyt blasts social media

Aylmer Mayor Jack Couckuyt lashed out this week at social media users who sparked what Aylmer Police Chief Kyle Johnstone calls a “wild fire” of frightening online innuendo about gun violence.

The community leaders were referring to social media chatter about a fake threat of gun violence at East Elgin Secondary School on March 2.

Chief Johnstone said the origin of the bogus social media posts was one student overhearing the conversation of two others on a bus.

“It wasn’t even a hoax,” Chief Johnstone said in an interview on March 16. “Someone overheard a conversation and it took on a life of its own. That person grossly misappropriated the conversation.

“Nobody was charged,” he added. “It was a negligent interpretation of a conversation between two students. There’s no substance to it at all.”

For the full story, see the March 18 edition of The Aylmer Express.