Calgary school hostage-taking ends with one in custody

CALGARY – A hostage-taking at a Calgary school has ended safely, with one suspect in custody.

Police officers descended on a school Thursday afternoon as a man described as a former student held a secretary hostage.

Calgary police Insp. Frank Reuser said the secretary at A.E. Cross School in southwest Calgary – a woman in believed to be between 45 and 47 years old – was being held hostage by a 25-year-old former student.

There was also a 13-year-old boy in the office who called his mother, who then called police for help.

Police said during the hostage taking that the boy had locked himself in an interior office.

According to the police, the secretary was cut, but the extent of her wound was not known.

Police described the hostage-taker as a former student who was injured some time ago and holds the school and principal responsible. He wanted to speak to the principal. Police went inside the school to negotiate with the man.

Students, who were in an assembly at the time, were marched off the property onto waiting yellow school buses and have been taken to another nearby school.

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

Police had blocked all roads surrounding the school.

With files from Global News