He dreamed of playing pro hockey. Instead, this teen was arrested at gunpoint after years of relentless bullying at sports academy, lawsuit alleges

Lucas DeCaluwe was sitting alone in his dad's parked truck when he noticed police officers swarming the vehicle.

It was October 2019, and the then 14-year-old hockey player, struggling with what he calls relentless bullying by teammates on his high school team, was on his way to an appointment with a sports psychologist.

As he waited for his father to return from a brief stop at the bank, officers closed in, pointing their guns and ordering him to come out of the truck with his hands up.

I was scared. I didn't know what was happening," says the now 17-year old.

His father, Brian, returning to the truck, watched his son's arrest in horror.

I heard Lucas saying, Daddy, daddy help me.' Those are the words I will always remember."

DeCaluwe and his father say they had no idea what the teen had done to be arrested at gunpoint.

They would later learn that a social media post the day before, made by someone else using DeCaluwe's name, suggested he was planning to kill classmates with firearms at Victus Academy, a private school in Kitchener that specializes in training young hockey players, according to allegations in a lawsuit filed by the DeCaluwes.

That social media post, the DeCaluwes allege, was the culmination of a years-long harassment campaign by teammates, allowed to happen by staff at the hockey academy pervaded by a toxic culture.

Their $5.5-million lawsuit alleges the behaviour of the school and three student hockey players had a profound psychological impact" on his well being and his goal of playing professional hockey.

No statements of defence have yet been filed by the defendants.

In a statement, Victus Academy President Matthew Schmidt said the school will vigorously defend" itself against the lawsuit.

We are an academic and athletic school that reinforces respectful behaviour every day in all that we do," he said.

The Star is choosing not to name the student defendants as they were youths at the time of their alleged bullying.

A lawyer for one of the students said he will fight the lawsuit in court. One student's family declined to comment and the third could not be reached.

The lawsuit is not against the student who the DeCaluwes eventually learned authored the social media post. DeCaluwe's mother, Gail, says that student had witnessed the alleged bullying was trying to scare them into leaving" her son alone.

She says it was an ill-advised attempt to do what she alleges the school had failed to: make the harassment stop.

With a tuition of just under $20,000, Victus offers both academic and hockey programs for boys and girls in Grades 5 through 12. The school website includes testimonials from former players and parents including graduates now playing in the Ontario Hockey League.

Victus Academy is not for everyone," the website reads. Successful applicants to Victus Academy will be those individuals who not only possess high level hockey skills and academic ability, but they must also be ready for the rigours and demands of this highly competitive school."

DeCaluwe's statement of claim alleges he became a frequent target of bullying" from the time he began attending the Kitchener school at age 11. The three defendants were part of a pervasive and systemic" culture at Victus that abused and harassed Lucas and encouraged others to do so as well," the claim reads.

In an interview, his mother Gail remembers the heartache it caused in her young son and their family.

They were taunting him on the ice, throwing his equipment around," she said. It just got worse and worse and worse. They were screaming in his face, segregating him, threatening to beat him up, he didn't have anyone to eat lunch with. It was devastating for him."

Gail says she and her husband didn't know the full extent of the harassment at the time because their son didn't share the details. But it became clear in the fall of 2019.

DeCaluwe's teammates were making false allegations, accusations and rumours, including that he was mentally unwell, a prospective school shooter and that he had researched guns with the intent to purchase one and fatally harm students on school property," the lawsuit alleges.

There was a narrative that Lucas had a hit list and was going to go after people," Gail said. It was something they made up and joked about."

The civil claim alleges that on Oct. 1, 2019, a Victus student circulated a fake social media post in DeCaluwe's name that issued a warning: Don't come to school tomorrow I'm done with the stuff that's happening."

One of the boys admitted to creating the fake Snapchat post in his interview with police," says Gail, who reviewed the Crown's brief detailing two criminal charges against her son for allegedly uttering death threats.

The criminal complaint alleges DeCaluwe made the threats against two of the boys named in the civil suit days before the social media post was made.

Both charges, which Lucas vigorously denied, were withdrawn in August 2020.

Gail says reading the police statements given by students left her in tears.

It was heartbreaking to see how many kids had seen the bullying going on, and the school knew what was going on. It was way more extensive than anything I had ever thought."

News of the fake post spread across the school's student body and staff and led to the belief DeCaluwe was planning to murder students at school by engaging in a shooting rampage," the claim reads.

In response, the principal of Victus Academy contacted the Waterloo Regional Police Service to report Lucas, the claim alleges.

The next day, DeCaluwe was forcibly and violently" arrested with weapons drawn, it says.

When Brian came out of the bank and saw the commotion, he remembers running to his son.

I was pushed to the side by one of the officers and they asked me who was in the truck and does he have any weapons," the father recalls.

The young DeCaluwe was placed in a police car and handcuffed.

I was watching my 14-year-old son in a police cruiser and they had given me no information about what he had done," Brian says. As a father I worry that I didn't protect my son enough. I've been struggling with this. There are things I'm second guessing. I wonder if I failed him."

At the police station, the teen was told to remove the strings from his shoes before he was placed in a holding cell.

More than four hours later, he was released on a promise to appear in court and conditions that he could not go to Victus Academy.

Victus dropped me entirely," says the teen.

When the family arrived home that night, officers were inside searching computers for firearm purchases and the home for weapons, the family says. They weren't allowed back into the house until 1 a.m., they say.

It was devastating," says Gail. Home is a safe place for all of us. It was very invasive. You feel like your whole life is exposed for no reason."

While the criminal charges against DeCaluwe were withdrawn following an investigation, the damage to the teen's reputation at the school was irrevocable, the claim alleges. The mental distress left him in a state of social isolation, trauma and embarrassment."

The defenceman was unable to take part in the bulk of the 2019-2020 hockey season, which was DeCaluwe's Ontario Hockey League draft year. His dreams of a professional career in hockey were significantly and detrimentally impacted," the claim alleges.

The family is claiming damages against Victus for failing to protect DeCaluwe from long-term intimidation, coercion, bullying, abuse and harassment."

Staff at the school were repeatedly made aware of the bullying, the claim alleges.

Victus Academy's failure to take remedial measures created and condoned a toxic and unsafe environment and culture in which harassment and bullying were prevalent ... Both prior to, and in the wake of Lucas's arrest, Victus Academy did not implement any policies or procedures to address the online and in-person bullying."

DeCaluwe has been in counselling since the incident. He is now playing Junior A level hockey with the Caledon Admirals.

He's still working through the mental issues. There's hesitation. He doesn't have a lot of confidence (and) that is holding him back from getting to the next level," she says.

After what Lucas has gone through, if we can do something good to change the culture and make sure other kids don't have to go through this, that's the healing part of this."

Robert Cribb is a Toronto-based investigative reporter for the Star. Reach him via email: rcribb@thestar.ca