A Toronto teacher has been suspended after showing a group of Grade 5 and 6 students “a portion of a violent video” related to the assassination of U.S. conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Corvette Junior Public School principal Jennifer Koptie, in a letter sent to parents on Friday, said the incident is “extremely troubling and unacceptable.”
Koptie said that the footage was shown to the French Immersion students because they had questions “about a recent tragic event in the United States.”
“The video is believed to have been shown once by a staff member supervising the class who is not the homeroom teacher,” Koptie wrote.
The Toronto District School Board, which supplied a copy of the letter to National Post, confirmed that the video related to Kirk’s shooting death at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10 and said an “investigation will determine the specifics.”
Videos circulating widely on social media show Kirk being shot in the neck, with blood spurting from the wound as he begins to collapse.
Koptie said the teacher won’t be present at the school while the investigation is ongoing.
In the meantime, she said the school’s “top priority is supporting students.” Social workers were available Friday.
The letter went home the same day as authorities in the U.S. apprehended 22-year-old Tyler Robinson as a suspect in Kirk’s murder.
He is expected to be formally charged on Tuesday.
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