HALIFAX – Seven youths were taken into custody with two slingshots after prompting fears about an active shooting at the Halifax Shopping Centre, Saturday night.
At around 6:40 p.m., police received the first of several calls from passengers on a Halifax Transit bus saying that a bus had been shot at, said Staff Sgt. Julia Cecchetto of the Halifax Regional Police.
She said officers from the downtown and west area responded, as well as the Emergency Response Team.
Police established a perimeter around the mall and blocked access to vehicles and pedestrians.
Shoppers and employees were kept inside the building and described a frightening situation.
“It was pretty scary,” one shopper told Global News. “Everybody told everybody to go in the back of their stores. Anxiety was high, that’s for sure.”
Once police arrived on scene, they found the glass on the bus was damaged but not shattered. Cecchetto said that led them to think it wasn’t a firearm that caused the damage.
Cecchetto said the passengers on the bus were “very distraught;” some passengers were sitting on the sidewalk outside the bus and others were lying on the floor of the vehicle.
“They were very afraid quite honestly, very afraid.”
Police subsequently located seven teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 in the parkade with two slingshots. The three female and four male youths remain in police custody and were being interviewed Saturday night.
READ MORE: Two charged with conspiracy to commit murder in Halifax attack plot
The call came on the same day two people were charged with conspiracy to commit murder in an alleged plot to open fire in the Halifax Shopping Centre. Police said the attack was planned for Saturday and could have resulted in mass killings.
Cecchetto said it is unclear whether the teenagers in custody knew about the foiled plot at the mall. However, in a later press release police said “this incident appears to have been random and does not appear to be in any way related to the events that have occurred over the last few days.”
Two of the male teens, a 16-year-old and 17-year-old, face a variety of charges including property damage, possession of weapons and breach of probation.
They will appear in youth court on Tuesday.
With files from Natasha Pace and Cory McGraw
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