Charges laid after Royal Alexandra Hospital bomb threat

A 26-year-old man has been charged after parts of Edmonton’s Royal Alexandra Hospital had to be evacuated due to a bomb threat Tuesday afternoon.

On Wednesday, police confirmed that Kristopher Duermeyer is facing charges of uttering threats and mischief over $5,000.

Three packages were found after members of the Edmonton Police Service Bomb Detail cleared the hospital on Tuesday afternoon.

None of them were considered suspicious.

According to a spokesperson, the threat was made Tuesday morning. One person was taken into custody for questioning, the spokesperson said.

Police said “some areas” of the hospital were evacuated for precautionary reasons. Police didn’t say which areas of the hospital were evacuated, or how many people had to leave.

Shortly after 2 p.m., Alberta Health Services tweeted that police had given the hospital the “all clear” and that operations would return to normal as quickly as possible.

In a statement, AHS said a small number of “non-urgent procedures” had to be postponed due to the threat.

A Global News crew on scene said people coming out of the hospital during the evacuation told them there were sirens going off and “Code Black” was being repeated over the speaker system.

Code Black means either a bomb threat or a suspicious package.

Several police cars could be seen lined up on the east side of the hospital, along with a number of fire crews.