Gun scare locks down city college

A report of a teenager with a gun led to the brief lock down of a city community college yesterday.
Several witnesses called police to report seeing the butt of a handgun sticking out of the waistband of a youth who had been involved in a fight at Samuel-Genest High School, shortly before noon hour.
Nearby La Cite Collegiale locked down its campus after “Ottawa Police notified the college a suspect with a gun was heading in that direction,” said Staff-Sgt. Chris Renwick.
Two teenaged males and one female were arrested near Bathgate Road shortly afterwards.
Police seized a pellet pistol from one of the teens.
“Once the arrest was made, the college was notified the incident was contained,” Renwick said.
A teacher broke up the initial fight at the high school. The pellet gun was not fired during the incident and nobody was injured.
Police said La Cite students were in no danger, but Benoit Tremblay, with communications at La Cite Collegiale, called the campus lockdown “a preventative move” and “the right move to do in that situation.”
“It was short but quite intense because of the stress associated with that type of situation.”
Tremblay said they received the all clear from police at about 12 p.m. and the lockdown was lifted within 10 minutes.
He said the college had counsellors available afterwards for any students distressed by the situation.