Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School (Hamilton, Ontario)

On October 7, 2019, 14-year-old Grade 9 student Devan Bracci-Selvey was stabbed to death in front of his mother outside Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School by four fellow students. Bracci-Selvey's mother had driven to the school to pick up her son around 1:30PM after he called to say other students at the school had been bothering him. She arrived and saw a group of students taunting Bracci-Selvey and spraying him with an unknown substance, thought to be bear mace. The group hunted the boy down a sidewalk as he fled with his mother following in her vehicle. A 16 year-old girl repeatedly taunted Bracci-Selvey demanding he hit her, to which he replied, "I can’t hit you, I wasn’t raised that way." These were the last words his mother would hear from her son alive. Bracci-Selvey attempted to rush over to enter his mother's vehicle but was swarmed and stabbed. A group of student bystanders witnessed the entire incident, recording the murder live on their cell phones, which police later sought to have turned over as evidence and not shared on social media.[1][2]

The slain student's sister wrote on a GoFundMe fundraiser for Devan's funeral that her brother was a "shy, quiet, [helpful] kid who had tried get help with the bullying he was experiencing." Bracci-Selvey was fond of cars, video games, and animals, had dreams of becoming a mechanic, and was excited to become an uncle for the second time. Bracci-Selvey, as per his mother, “protected everybody” and never hesitated to stick up for friends when they were being harassed. Citing the age of the victim and suspects as well as an ongoing investigation, police would not comment on nor confirm speculation and reports surrounding possible motives and the nature of the confirmed "existing relationship" between the victim and the accused. Relatives, including the boy's mother, who spoke to Global News and CP24, confirmed Bracci-Selvey was relentlessly bullied since beginning high school a month earlier and their concerns were dismissed by school officials who deemed there was "insufficient evidence to take action." Bracci-Selvey had begun skipping classes, attending school part-time before calling asking to be picked up, or refusing to go to school in the mornings as a result of the bullying.[3][4]

Two brothers, a 14-year-old and an 18-year-old, were arrested after the incident and later charged with first-degree murder following a preliminary investigation by Hamilton Police Service. A third individual was arrested but “was interviewed and later released unconditionally once [their] involvement in the investigation was established.” On October 8, 2019, police had announced a 16-year-old male and a 16-year-old female, outstanding suspects, were also arrested and taken into custody on suspicion of first-degree murder. On October 9, 2019, both were released without charge after being questioned lengthily about the homicide. Detective-Sergeant Steve Bereziuk noted in a media release that "based on evidence there is some element of pre-planning […] and premeditation [involved with] this homicide."[5][6][7][8]

A crisis response intervention team, social workers, police liaison officers, wellness counsellors, and extra staff support for teachers and administrators were sent to the school following the incident. As public frustration and anger grew against the perceived inaction of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) leading up to the incident, Director of Education Manny Figueiredo advised CBC News that "an investigation into what happened [would] get underway once the police investigation wraps [up]." After the stabbing, Figueiredo felt the school was still "the safest place for a kid to be right now [as] a lot of [students] want to be together, they want to be with their friends and talk and make sense and deal with their grief" even as many parents kept their children home from school in the days after the stabbing. When pressed specifically on the bullying Bracci-Selvey endured and what the school did in response, Figueiredo said he was not aware of what led up to the violence and instead advocated for a community-oriented response: "The schools don't live in isolation of the community... they need to take a leadership role [when it comes to bullying] because we have these students for five hours a day. We have to continue to engage our kids...if a kid turns to us, how are we responding so they see that it's safe to respond?" Figueiredo encouraged students who do not feel safe, or have not felt safe in the past, to raise their concerns with adults.[9][10]