Guelph man charged after 'improvised weapon' used in online threats against daycare, city workers

A Guelph, Ont., man has been charged after police say a daycare was the target of online threats that included a photo of an "improvised weapon."

Police say the online threats were made on the page of the accused's personal social media account and included the name of the daycare centre as well as a picture of the weapon. Police would not say what kind of weapon was used in the post.

Threats against some city workers were also made in the posts.

"Certainly [the posts] implied a harm against the occupants of the daycare as well as against some city employees," said Scott Tracey, spokesperson for the Guelph Police Service. 

Police were made aware of the threats and posted officers in the area early Thursday morning before the daycare opened. About half an hour later, officers saw a man they recognized from the online posts and, "after a brief struggle," arrested him, said a release sent out Friday.

"He does live close to the daycare, so it's unknown whether he was actually headed there at the time that he was intercepted or he was going somewhere else," Tracey explained.

Once officers searched the suspect's home, Tracey said, they found a weapon that matched what had been seen in the online posts.

A 33-year-old Guelph man is charged with two counts of uttering threats, possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose and two counts of breaching a probation order. He was held for a bail hearing Friday.

Tracey said he can't comment on the name or location of the daycare, whether parents were informed or if the daycare centre is beefing up security measures, but he does understand how distressing this could be for everyone.

"Of course it would be concerning for anyone, let alone a business that's taking care of young children, to be singled out in this way ... and it was concerning to us. And that's why our officers took the steps they did to to quickly locate and arrest this individual."