Police in Winnipeg said Tuesday a suspect was at large following a report of a man armed with a large knife at the University of Manitoba.
Const. Claude Chancy said officers were called about 6:30 a.m. to the university's Fort Garry campus for a report of a man dressed in black carrying a large knife into the Allen Building.
The building on the northeast side of the campus houses the university’s physics department.
"The situation has been resolved, and it has been determined there is no longer any immediate threat to public safety,” Chancy told a news conference.
He added that a suspect was not found and there were no reported injuries. Officers were to remain on campus as a precaution.
Emergency alerts were sent out on TV, radio and cellphones using the Alert Ready system, Chancy said. Alerts were distributed to phones that pinged off towers near the university, as it wasn’t deemed necessary to issue a citywide alert, he said.
Police and university officials asked people to stay away from the area in the morning. Students already on campus were told to lock all doors and stay put. In-person classes, exams and events were cancelled for the day.
Last month, police said a man broke into a dorm room at the university and sexually assaulted a woman. A 46-year-old man was arrested and faces various charges.
Chancy said that alleged assault did not influence how police responded to the knife report.
"We don't base that on prior incidents,” he said. “It has to do with this incident and how serious of a nature it was.”
Gordon Perrier, the university’s director of security services, told a separate news conference that an alarm was triggered at the Allan Building around the time police were called to campus.
University security then got a phone call from a person inside the building about seeing a man with a knife, Perrier said.
There’s no reason to believe the suspect is a student at the university, Perrier added.
