Father Jan students were temporarily locked inside their school Thursday due to reports that there was a disturbed and possible armed man in a nearby home.
RCMP got a call at about 1 p.m. Thursday about an emotionally disturbed 25-year-old man thought to be in a home on Mount Royal Drive, said Cst. M-J Burroughs. Information from the call led police to suspect that the man may have had or had access to a gun.
About seven officers cordoned off Mount Royal Dr. from Mission Ave. to St. Vital Ave. Students at nearby Father Jan Community School were just finishing their lunchtime recess, so officers had staffers get the students back inside and lock the doors.
“We just wanted to make sure the safety of the staff and students were taken into consideration,” Burroughs said.
Police also alerted staff at St. Albert Catholic High, V.J. Maloney and Alexandre-Taché, she added.
Father Jan staffers performed a “hold and secure” operation starting at about 1:45 p.m., which is where you lock the outer doors of the school so no one can get in or out, said Catholic superintendent David Keohane. This is different from a lockdown, during which staff and students would also stay out of the school’s hallways.
St. Albert Catholic High and Vincent J. Maloney schools were advised of the situation but did not take any formal actions, he added.
Police arrested the 25-year-old man and a woman and seized two firearms from the home. Charges are pending. Burroughs would not disclose the type of guns.
The hold and secure order was lifted at about 2 p.m., Burroughs said.
The Catholic board sent a mass email and phone message to affected parents Thursday summarizing the incident, Keohane said.
Keohane urged parents not to call their local schools during emergencies such as these as doing so could distract staffers from doing their jobs, and not to use social media to get the word out.
“It does not serve the community well when an individual decides to send out information that may or may not be true,” he added, referring to some erroneous remarks posted on Twitter during the incident.
Parents should instead call their local board office, Burroughs said.
“Put faith in the measures that are implemented and know that your children are safe in the school.”
Bellerose students are geared up for a trivia throw-down this weekend as they reach for the top spot in a province-wide Quiz Bowl challenge.
About eight members of the Bellerose Reach for the Top team are taking on geniuses from across Alberta at the University of Alberta this Saturday as part of the annual provincial Quiz Bowl tournament.
Quiz Bowl is an American trivia game similar to Canada’s Reach for the Top where student teams compete to answer the most general knowledge questions they can under a time limit, explained Brian Grant, coach of the Bellerose Reach for the Top team.
“These are not Kardashian-type questions,” he said, referring to celebrity gossip. Quiz Bowl questions typically emphasize science, math, and technology, and often require detailed knowledge.
“I’m stumped half the time as a coach.”
Quiz Bowl is a lot harsher when it comes to guessing, said team member Liam McCoy – not only do you get negative points for a wrong answer, but you also lose your shot at three additional bonus questions.
“One question can entirely split the course of a game.”
The questions also tend to be a lot longer, Grant said – whereas a typical Reach match might involve 100 questions, Quiz Bowls typically have about 20.
This is Bellerose’s third time at the tournament, and McCoy said its team is aiming to qualify for nationals.
“Quiz Bowl nationals are crazy,” he said, as they feature close to a hundred teams from all of Canada and the U.S.
The challenge runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the basement of the Henry Marshall Tory building this Oct. 25.
