Police respond to hostage taking at A.E. Cross School

CALGARY – A suspect is now in custody after a harrowing hostage taking at A.E. Cross School in southwest Calgary.

Calgary tactical team members successfully negotiated with the 25 year-old man, taking him into custody shortly before 4 p.m. According to police, the man turned over his hostage on negotiations of a bottle of water.

According to police, the 25-year-old suspect had taken a secretary in her mid 40’s hostage in the principal’s office of the junior high earlier this afternoon. She suffered a leg wound and is receiving medical attention.

The man is a fomer student at A.E. Cross and ‘apparently he suffered an injury some years back. He is blaming the principal for that injury and now he wants to talk to that principal," said Insp. Frank Reuser.

Also, hidden inside an interior office, was a 13 year-old boy who called his mother from his cell phone to alert her of the problem. His mother then went on to alert police. The boy is now safe and his mother has arrived at the school.

Children at the school were attending an assembly when the incident happened. They were escorted onto waiting school buses and taken to Glenbrook school.

Olympic women’s curling team silver medallist Carolyn Darbyshire was at the school to address the pep rally on Thursday afternoon.

"The school did a really good job evacuating. The kids were really, really good," Darbyshire said.

Students inside the gym told the Herald that teachers addressed the assembly and said there was a dangerous man inside the school — and that the event wasn’t a drill.

Shelly Weeks arrived to pick up her child, who’s in grade 8 at the school.

"My daughter called me in tears and cried ‘Come get me.’ I flipped over to the AM radio station and hear there was a hostage taking."

Her first reaction – "A hostage taking in our city?"

Calgary Board of Education said that all children who take the chartered bus service to school or who use Calgary Tranist have left Glenbrook School.

Students who walk to school are still in the gym at Glenbrook School and parents are asked to come and personally pick up their child.

According to student Stefan Gigovic, the school had practised hostage taking drills before "but we never thought it was going to happen."

"We’re all, like, shaken up. A couple of kids were crying."