A youth inadvertently triggered a lockdown at city hall Monday afternoon after police responded to a possible weapons complaint.
According to Const. Janice Schoepp of the St. Albert RCMP detachment, someone placed a 911 call at approximately 3:20 p.m. and reported that someone in St. Albert Place was carrying a sword. At that time, council was holding its regular meeting in chambers on the third floor.
Four officers responded to the scene and a decision was made to lock council chambers from the inside to limit access to different parts of the building. At the time the chamber doors were locked down, all of council was meeting with approximately a dozen city staff and five individuals watching from the gallery. No other parts of St. Albert Place were locked down, Schoepp said.
The lockdown lasted approximately 30 minutes. The RCMP officers who responded to the scene found a young man who was carrying a homemade object that resembled a replica sword. Schoepp said no one in the building was ever at risk.
The teen was a special needs person who was known to police as having autism.
“I think he was just cutting through the building to go from the front to the back,” Schoepp said. “I think, when the call came in, [the officers] had a good idea of who was involved. They didn’t suggest [the lockdown].”
The city’s chief legislative officer Chris Belke was seen in chambers locking all the entrances and repeatedly checking the hallways.
For their part, Mayor Nolan Crouse and the six councillors didn’t even know what was taking place as the meeting continued without interruption. Council only learned of the incident when the public portion of the meeting adjourned at approximately 5 p.m.
The RCMP gave the youth a ride home, where the incident was discussed with a parent, Schoepp said.
