Advertisement

Mic Mac Mall 'threat' results in Halifax police releasing 3 arrested

Halifax Regional Police have released the three people taken into custody after Mic Mac Mall in Dartmouth was closed for the day over a potential threat.​

Police said they received information about the potential threat at 9 a.m. AT on Tuesday and the mall decided to close after managers were advised of the situation.

Mall management announced Tuesday evening that stores would reopen on Wednesday, but shoppers may notice increased security.

Around 3:40 p.m., police said three people were taken into custody at an apartment on Willett Street, in the Clayton Park neighbourhood of Halifax. They said a search warrant would be executed as part of the investigation into the threats.

Two men and a woman were arrested. By 9:30 p.m., police said the trio had been released and that investigators did not believe they had been involved.

In a release, police said the three had been co-operative and were released without charges.

Police said there was no information to suggest a continued threat to the mall.

Tweets from Halifax Regional Police indicated officers would remain on scene at Mic Mac Mall as a precaution.

The nature of the threat and how it was received have not been disclosed.

Earlier in the afternoon, police spokesman Const. Pierre Bourdages said officers entered a Dartmouth residence on Everette Street, off Pleasant Street, in connection with the threat investigation, but found nothing or no one inside that would help the investigation.

'There is no threat to anything else'

Bourdages would not say what police were looking for, only that it was in connection with the mall threat.

"That investigation is ongoing. We are still trying to determine the validity of the threats that were made," he said.

"There is no threat to anything else at this time. The information we received was about a specific potential threat against a specific area, a specific mall, which was Mic Mac Mall."

Bourdages asked the media not to Tweet photos of officers at the scene, saying it could jeopardize their safety or their lives.

"[We] ask you not to disclose specific locations where officers are, and that's for safety," he said.

The mall tweeted it would stay closed for the remainder of the day.

Crichton Park School, which is on Lyngby Avenue close to the Mic Mac Mall, was in a hold and secure mode because of the threat, the Halifax Regional School Board tweeted. South Woodside School, on Everette Street, was also in a hold and secure mode. That was later lifted and both schools were dismissed at regular time.

Employees, customers told to leave

Jennifer MacLean, who works at a women's clothing store in the mall, said she heard an announcement on Tuesday morning asking everyone to leave the building immediately.

"Everyone came outside, and the police came out a couple of minutes later and just said the mall was closed for the day. No one was allowed back in," she told CBC News.

"People didn't even really know what was going on. There were still people wandering around. They hadn't heard it. There were still people coming in or trying to come in."

MacLean said she grabbed her store keys and jacket, locked up and went outside. She was told she couldn't go back in to get her purse.

She said the first thing that came to mind was the alleged mass shooting plot, foiled by police several weeks ago, that officers said was to happen at the Halifax Shopping Centre on Valentine's Day.

"It makes you think a little bit more about stuff like that," MacLean said.