Western Canada: Edmonton City Hall incident the latest in growing public safety concerns

Hi everyone, Mark Iype in Edmonton today.

Public safety has been top of mind in Alberta for months now, with Edmonton at the centre of the discussion. The city, the province, police and advocates have butted heads over how best to deal with homeless encampments in the city.

But on Tuesday, the problem wasn’t at a tent city in the downtown. It was at city hall itself.

As the mayor and counsellors participated in meetings, a man entered the building through its parking garage, then fired multiple shots, shattering some glass, and set a small fire with what appeared to be a Molotov cocktail.

In an afternoon news conference, Edmonton Police Chief Dale McFee said officers had received a call at 10:25 a.m. about shots being fired, and were on scene within minutes. An unarmed city security officer was able to detain the suspect, an act the chief said was “above and beyond” the employee’s duties. When police arrived they placed the man under arrest. There were no injuries reported. Authorities did not release the suspect’s name on Tuesday.

McFee said the suspect was heavily armed, with a gun able to shoot multiple rounds and several incendiary devices. He appeared to be shooting “randomly,” the chief said.

He said police are investigating, and that there are no indications yet as to the motive for the shooting.

“We believe this individual acted alone … there are no further concerns for public safety. We are incredibly lucky today there are no injuries and no lives are lost,” he added.

The building was quickly evacuated when the shooting began. Police closed off streets around the scene, and tactical and bomb units swept the building.

Later in the afternoon, police said no further explosives had been discovered, and that there was no longer any threat to the public.

In addition to the mayor and counsellors, a Grade 1 class was at city hall at the time of the incident.

This is the weekly Western Canada newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox and Alberta Bureau Chief Mark Iype. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.