St Bede’s College, Melbourne: Chilling gun threat sends city school into lockdown as worried parents race to pick up their children

A school in Melbourne’s south-east has gone into lockdown after an alleged ‘threatening social media post’.

St Bede’s College in Mentone, 21km south-east of Melbourne’s Central Business District, was put into lockdown at 8.25am on Wednesday.

The lockdown was introduced after a photo was posted on social media last night with the caption “I’m letting my teacher down,” the Herald Sun reported.

On Wednesday morning, parents gathered en masse on Facebook to share their photos. One of them claimed that the photo was the reason for the lockdown.

“Unfortunately I believe a child posted a picture with a gun. I hope I heard wrong. But apparently kids are snapchatting about this,” one person wrote on Facebook.

“Can confirm: a man posted a picture of a gun and bullets and indicated that he wanted to attack a teacher,” another replied.

A Victoria Police spokesperson has confirmed the Moorabbin Crime Investigation Unit is investigating a “threatening social media post” that was reported at around 11pm on Tuesday.

“The message did not contain threats against any specific school or individual,” the spokesperson said.

St Bede’s College is considered one of Melbourne’s top private schools

An investigation is currently underway to determine who created the message.

‘There is currently no threat to St Bede’s College in Mentone.

The lockdown was confirmed in a text message to parents on Wednesday morning, but emergency services have not yet provided an update.

‘Message from St Bedes College: Mentone Campus remains in lockdown and no further updates. All students and staff are safe,’ the message read.

The school released a statement confirming that the lockdown has been lifted.

“To our community, all our students and staff are safe. At 8.25am this morning, St Bede’s College Mentone commenced lockdown on the advice of police as part of a policing operation,” the statement said.

‘At 9:40 am the lockdown was lifted and classes resumed as normal.

“Thank you to the entire community for your cooperation and understanding.”

St Bede’s College in Mentone is reportedly in lockdown

St Bede’s College is a Catholic boys’ school, founded in 1938.

Annual tuition costs start at $9,380 for 7th grade students and rise to $9,580 for 12th grade students.

The total costs include the annual tuition fee, maintenance and development of the facilities, membership of the parents and friends association and a laptop.

However, the cost excludes school uniform, English novels for grades 7 to 10, school books for grades 11 and 12, stationery and optional school trips (including ski trips, European history trips and indigenous immersion trips).

In 2023, there were 1,900 students on the Mentone and Bentleigh East campuses.

More coming soon.