Police say threat resolved after report of man with knife at University of Manitoba

An incident involving reports of a man with a knife at the University of Manitoba Fort Garry Campus has been resolved according to Winnipeg police.

Officers were first called to the area around 6:30 a.m. after reports of a man with a knife in the Allen Building on campus.

Multiple units attended the call, including the tactical support team and the canine unit.

A map showing the location of the Allen Building. (Source: CTV News)

Officers set up a perimeter around the building and searched in and around the area.

Police said no one was injured during the incident.

For a time, people on campus were told to lock their doors and others were told to stay away from campus. The school also issued a shelter in place, which has since been lifted.

Police continue to remain on scene to patrol as a precaution.

Const. Claude Chancy said there is enough information to determine there is no longer a risk to the public in the area.

"Luckily enough, this is a building that doesn't house students,” he said.

“However, it's early in the morning and students would be arriving very soon, teachers, staff, to work or study there. It's taken very seriously by our service and that kind of spelled out the steps following.”

The major crimes unit is investigating and no arrests have been made at this time.

Anyone with information is asked to call police or Crime Stoppers.

All classes, exams, and events at the school have been cancelled for the day. All virtual classes and those at the Bannatyne campus are continuing.

Students felt communication could be better 

While the situation was eventually deemed safe and no one was injured, students on campus felt they were left in the dark about what was happening.

Kushal Joshi said when he got to school he noticed the entire tunnel system was blocked off and he wasn't aware of what was going on.

He said he saw the police presence but hadn't heard what happened.

"We just thought something was going down, and we didn't really get a clear picture until the alarm went off throughout the entire school," said Joshi.

"I was wondering if we were safe, if we were in a safe position just because we were so close to everything."

While he felt the police handled the situation well, he wished details from the university were shared sooner so students knew what was going on.

"The email could have gone out a little bit sooner, right, especially if this was a situation that was known."

He feels campus can be unsafe during certain hours.

"This is not something I expect to walk into when I'm going to my classes."

Charlie, another student, said she did receive the emergency alert on her phone in the morning, but didn't hear anything from the university until hours later.

"Once I heard, of course, I stayed, and with residency, we were on a bit of a lockdown for a bit. But even then, all the emails and everything were just kind of late, which was, it was concerning," she said.

She wishes everything was shared a bit sooner and students were given the details at the time they needed them.

"It put people at risk not knowing, because some people have their early classes that they were going for. It was a lot."

Gordon Perrier, the university’s director of security services, said there were a number of avenues where communication was sent, both publicly and specifically to students.

"As you know, the police did send some early information, as they often do, through X, indicating not to attend a particular area. In addition to that, we did send out some information on our internal services, which is an app that we have at the university, in addition to a tower notification," said Perrier.

He noted the decision to cancel classes came a lot later in the process of the incident.

In an emailed statement to CTV News Winnipeg, Erik Thomson, the president of the U of M Faculty Association, said this incident gives an opportunity to improve communication.

"So that if there is an emergency in the future – faculty, staff, students, parents, transit drivers, and others in the community – get timely, clear, consistent and correct information so they can react in the best way to keep people safe," he said.

Thomson noted students and staff were "surprised" to be getting messages from police and not the university, which "created confusion and frustration."