Threat which forced Wellington High School into lockdown was the second this week, principal says

A threat which forced Wellington High School into lockdown was the second in just one week, the principal says.

Police descended on the school on Thursday morning after receiving reports of a threat via social media.

Wellington High School principal Dominic Killalea told Newshub while Thursday's threat was more concrete, it wasn't the first.

A student came to him on Monday worried about a shooter - but they couldn't provide any evidence.

"We received information on Monday that suggested there was a possibility of a school shooting but he had no names, no information, nothing we could follow up on."

Thursday morning was a different story entirely, he said.

"[The officer] said there was a credible, serious, imminent threat to the school and we needed to take immediate action."

Teachers and students were ushered inside and told to await further instructions as police swarmed the area outside. Shortly afterwards the situation was resolved and the school was released from lockdown.

A youth has since been charged in connection with the incident and appeared in Youth Court on Thursday. Another youth will be referred to Youth Aid, a police spokesperson said.

Killalea told Newshub the information he received on Monday was not the first time he had heard something along those lines - but with no evidence, there was nothing he could pass on to police.

He said a Stuff article which said the threat was against the LGBTQI+ community was "really irresponsible" as police said nothing of the sort. 

"The information did not suggest any link with the Rainbow community - the only link [police] suggested was with far-right, Nazi extremists."

"For the Rainbow kids who have seen that story and the links that Stuff have made I think they might feel quite traumatised by that and that's where I feel that's really irresponsible for Stuff to have done that."

Police confirmed in a statement the threat had nothing to do with any particular group of people, and that they are speaking to two young people in connection with the threat.

Enquiries into the incident are ongoing and anyone with information is asked to contact the police on 105.