CPS Alert: Teen Feud Escalates to Crime Spree

CALGARY — A school beef just went full street war. Five teenage boys are facing charges after a three-day crime spree that tore through northwest Calgary's quiet suburbs with pellet guns, baseball bats, and enough property damage to make the neighbors wonder if they needed to move.

Between January 12 and January 14, 2026, the violence hopscotched across Beddington Heights, Coventry Hills, Sandstone Valley, and Covebrook Place. What started as hallway drama escalated into retaliatory strikes between two groups of kids who apparently decided conflict resolution was for losers.

Calgary police, working with School Resource Officers, connected the dots. The charges hit both sides of the fight—nobody gets to play victim here.

The Bigger Picture Gets Uglier

This isn't happening in a vacuum. In August 2025, the Calgary Police Service admitted youth-related crime had jumped 6% above the five-year average. Statistics Canada piled on in July 2025, showing a 4% national spike in the Youth Violent Crime Severity Index for 2023—assault, robbery, and firearm offences all climbing.

The irony? Calgary's overall Crime Severity Index dropped 14% in 2024. Adults are apparently behaving. The kids? Not so much.

Fixing this mess doesn't come cheap. The Calgary Police Service is asking City Council to greenlight a $613 million operating budget for 2026—a 13% jump from last year. Back in early 2024, Justice Minister Mickey Amery threw $1.2 million at community-based youth diversion programs through the Alberta Community Justice Grant, betting that keeping kids out of the system might actually work.

Both Sides Take the Fall

Staff Sgt. Colin Chisholm of the District 3 General Investigations Unit made it clear: individuals from "both sides of the conflict" are getting charged. No heroes in this story.

The charges fall under the federal Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), which covers anyone aged 12-17. That law keeps the accused anonymous and leans hard on rehabilitation over jail time—a stance that youth justice advocates defend fiercely while critics wonder if consequences still mean anything.

None of the accused teens or their lawyers have said a word publicly, shielded by YCJA protections.

What Happens Next

Police say they've identified more suspects. The investigation isn't closed.

The first three charged teens hit court on February 25 and February 26, 2026. The other two are still waiting for their dates.