Members of the public and government employees have returned to a federal building in downtown Calgary following an evacuation prompted by a police investigation into reports of a suspicious device.
Emergency crews responded to the Harry Hays building in the 200 block of 4 Avenue SE shortly after 9:30 a.m. after a small black object was found in the entrance to a woman's washroom on the fifth floor. Members of the bomb squad were also dispatched to the scene.
“It was a smaller black cylindrical-shaped object and it appeared to have wires sticking out of it. It was deemed to look suspicious by security at Harry Hays,” said CPS Duty Inspector Julien Gagne. "It was made to look like something that may have been an explosive device or something of that nature.”
At approximately 12:40 p.m., explosive technicians with the Calgary Police Service removed the package from the building and transported it to an undisclosed location where it was disrupted and examined.
“Our explosive technicians have taken the suspicious package to a safe place. They’ve examined it. They’ve deemed it to be non-explosive in nature so that has been concluded,” said Gagne. “Now we move in on to try and identify who left it behind and for what purpose.”
The building reopened at around 1:10 p.m. following a search of the premises.
“There is some CCTV footage that we are reviewing but we’re still very early on in the investigation,” said Gagne. “At this time, we have nobody of interest that we’re looking at.”
Gagne says members of the general public are more aware of their surroundings these days and he encourages anyone who encounters something suspicious to contact the authorities.
“When we have calls like this, it certainly ties up a lot of resources but we can’t be too careful in making sure that everybody’s safe until it’s examined by our explosive technicians."
Anyone with information regarding the suspicious device is asked to contact the Calgary Police Service at 403-266-1234 or anonymous tips may be submitted to Crime Stoppers.
