Halifax police searching for person who made threatening call to NSCC

HALIFAX – Classes were back in session at the Akerley campus of the Nova Scotia Community College. Besides an increased police presence, there was nothing to indicate what happened at the college last night.

Around 5 o’clock last night, someone called the school and threatened to harm anyone who left the campus.

“There was no specific threat against one individual, it was a general threat against anyone at the school,” says Cst. Pierre Bourdages, Halifax Regional Police.

NSCC says they’ve never dealt with this kind of threat, which was made against students and staff, before. The school has an emergency system, that continuously informs people there is a lock-down through a specialized speaker system.

“What lockdown means at the community collage system is that everyone shelters themselves in place in the nearest place they can close the door, make themselves secure,” says Bill Strubank, Manager of Safety & Security, NSCC.

Investigators still aren’t sure who made the threatening call to the school, or why. Police, however, say they were ready to respond, and train regularly on how to deal with an active shooter in situations like this. Since the foiled Valentine’s Day attack on the Halifax Shopping Centre, police say officers are making themselves more noticeable.

“We have increased high visibility patrols in public area, malls, universities, what not, so you will see officers patrolling in more public areas,” Cst. Bourdages tells Global News.

Some students say threats like these happen so often, they’re becoming accustomed to it. “It seems like a common thing now really, for people to be running around with guns and stuff like that, so I don’t know, just another day I guess,” says Justin MacLeod.

Police want anyone with information about the threatening call to come forward.