Dalhousie University’s security services declared a lockdown on their Sexton and Carleton campuses the morning of Oct. 23 after receiving unconfirmed reports of an armed man in downtown Halifax from the police, according to Niecole Comeau, communications officer in the department of communications and marketing at Dalhousie University.
Dalhousie security lifted the lockdown at around 11:30 AST after receiving information from police suggesting there was no longer a threat, Comeau said.
Michael Burns, director of security at Dalhousie University, said the lockdown was “a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of our students, staff and faculty on the Carleton and Sexton Campuses,” according to an email sent to the Dalhousie University community.
Classes and meetings were cancelled on the Carleton and Sexton campuses during the lockdown and resumed shortly after the lockdown was lifted, according to Burns.
Shanley McCrann, a second-year management student at Dalhousie University, said she first heard about the incident through another student’s Twitter account.
“I was at home when I got the messages so I did not go to campus right away . . . I was scared to walk to class as they did not know where gunman was,” McCrann said.
The Halifax regional police received a call at 8:36 am about a man carrying what appeared to be a rifle, and then a second call at 11:00 am about a man who left a firearm on a Halifax Transit bus.
The 25-year-old man was arrested shortly after leaving the bus, according to a press release on the police website.
It is still unclear if the earlier report of the armed man is connected to the arrest, according to the release.
