Replica handgun recovered by police at Abbotsford high school

A 'very realistic'replica handgun has been recovered from Robert Bateman Secondary School in Abbotsford and police say they expect to lay threat and weapons charges relating to an incidentwhich had a number of Abbotsford schools onlockdown last week.

Police say they received a report that a handgun had been spotted during aconfrontationoutside a private residence in Abbotsfordthe afternoon ofDec. 3. Four 17-year-old males involved in the altercation were tracked toRobert Bateman Secondary, and after a search all four were located in different areas of the school and taken into custody.

Bateman Secondary and other schools in the area were placed into lockdownwhile police searched for the suspects and weapon.

The replica handgun was not located until Saturday afternoon,two days later.ConstIan MacDonald said it had been hidden in a public space in the school, not in a classroom.

He is unable to confirm if the four men taken into custody are students at Bateman Secondary.

MacDonald says police haven't found any links between thisincident andthe the ongoing Townline Hill gang war.

"We don't believeso," he said. "But as we continue to investigate we will be looking at everything including the motive... and the backgrounds of the individuals."