Lester B. Pearson High School in Montreal North issued a lockdown Thursday afternoon after several students claimed a man threatened them with a weapon outside a nearby business.
English Montreal School Board (EMSB) spokesperson Mike Cohen confirmed to Global News the incident happened around noon when students went out during their lunch break and returned saying they had been threatened.
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Montreal police spokesperson Raphael Bergeron said authorities were called to the high school on P M Favier Avenue in the afternoon and stayed to secure the exits while classes were dismissed at the end of the day, but added that police did not issue the lockdown.
Cohen told Global News that up to 10 senior students said they were having pizza at a nearby restaurant when the man threatened them.
The school published the following statement to their Facebook page:
The owner of a nearby depanneur, Silvana Giannone, told Global News she saw several teenagers run past her store. She said some of the teenagers then entered the depanneur and told her that they had gotten into a dispute with a man after he fell on the ground and one of the students made a comment.
She said the students told her the man took out what appeared to be a BB gun and threatened them.
Giannone said police later came by her business to collect camera footage.
Cohen said an email was sent out to parents informing them of the incident. He said the school’s lockdown was in place until the end of the day and called the incident unprecedented.