False alarm rattles John Abbott College as police arrive in force

What police are describing as “twisted information” led to a major police response at John Abbott College in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue Wednesday morning.

Police went to the West Island CEGEP after being told that a suicidal and possibly armed individual was on the campus.

Their investigation quickly revealed the individual in question, who had reportedly uttered suicidal comments a week earlier to friends, was not and had never been at the school Wednesday, and was, in fact, at his home, unarmed.

“The initial information we had was that there was a person who was armed, but the information was wrong,” said Const. Raphaël Bergeron, of the SPVM.

“I don’t know if there was a full evacuation or just a little perimeter, but in any case they realized quickly the information was wrong.”

Police located the student at his home, spoke to him there and he voluntarily went to hospital by ambulance. He was not armed.

Several students contacted the Montreal Gazette to say they were alarmed by the police intervention and wondered why the school was not evacuated or put in lockdown during the incident.

One student, who asked that her name not be used, said it was unnerving to see 15 to 20 police officers enter the school, some with their hands on their holsters.

“They were telling people to stay out of their way, but they didn’t tell people to get out,” she said. “I was really angry at the fact that the school was not put on lockdown because if a person is suicidal and armed, they might be mentally ill and you don’t know what is going to happen. There were lots of students around.”

Debbie Cribb, a media relations officer with John Abbott College, said the administration was at no time informed that an armed individual was in the building.

“There was never any threat to the college or the community. From my understanding the students who raised the alarm were concerned for this other student’s safety because he had not been to class in a few days and when they had last spoken to him, the student was making suicidal comments. So out of concern for their friend, they went to the administration.

“I don’t know who called 911 (and reported an armed person on campus), but the police responded promptly and according to protocol. But no arrests were made on campus, nobody was put in the back of a police cruiser … there has been a lot of misinformation on social media.”

She said students are understandably sensitized to safety issues because of past incidents at schools and because of the recent mass shooting in Las Vegas. But she said the campus has effective safety protocols in place in case of an incident involving a weapon.

“There is a safety protocol in place, and there has been for quite some time,” Cribb said. “It is constantly being re-evaluated and improved, as experts inform us on these issues. Luckily, that protocol did not have to be executed this morning because there was no threat made to anyone on campus or in our community.”