New Westminster police incident that triggered evacuations of courthouse, college has cleared

Mass evacuations in New Westminster A portion of downtown New Westminster, including the courthouse and several colleges, were shut down following an “active threat” Tuesday.

A police incident at the courthouse in New Westminster that triggered evacuations in the city’s downtown Tuesday morning has been cleared, according to authorities.

The department posted to social media shortly after 2 p.m. thanking the public for their patience and promising more information "shortly."

Just after 11 a.m., the New Westminster Police Department urged those in the area near the Carnarvon Street courthouse – including hundreds of students at nearby Douglas College – to leave immediately.

“Please leave for your own safety,” said NWPD spokesperson Sgt. Andrew Leaver, speaking to CTV News around 12:30 p.m. “Find somewhere close to go. This is an unfolding situation so we’re asking for the public’s patience.”

He said police became aware of the threat around 10:30 a.m.

Roads around the courthouse were blocked off and a number of first responders descended on the area, including the heavily armed emergency response team, police dogs, paramedics and firefighters.

Police did not specify the type of threat or where it originated.

“We can’t speak to the nature of the threat at this time but what we can say is we treat every threat as real and until we can determine otherwise, we will continue to investigate,” Leaver said..

This is a developing story and will be updated.