Court evacuated, people quarantined
Suspicious package forces dozens onto street; emergency crews in hazmat suits and respirators enter building
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Friday, April 24, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A tense scene erupted yesterday afternoon as a "suspicious package" forced the evacuation of the entire downtown courthouse building.
Emergency crews are showered and cleaned after leaving the Yellowknife courthouse on Thursday afternoon. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo |
Several people who came in "direct or indirect contact" with the package were quarantined but no one was injured, according to an RCMP news release. A Yellowknifer reporter was among more than a dozen people including staff members and the public who were in the court registry office on the third floor when two RCMP officers came in and told them to leave the building immediately. That was at about 2:30 p.m.
It appeared as though that floor was the first to be evacuated. As of press time, police had not said on which floor the suspicious package was found. An officer at the scene did tell the reporter that it was not a bomb nor was there a bomb threat.
There was a flurry of activity outside the courthouse with the fire division's hazardous material (hazmat) truck was on scene as well as an ambulance and several police vehicles. Police officers and firefighters donned white hazmat suits and had their respirators in hand as they entered the building.
Forty-nine Street was blocked off with fire scene tape in front of the courthouse building. Court staff, lawyers and others made their way out of the building a few at a time over about a half-hour time period.
According to a later RCMP news release, people who had been in direct or indirect contact with the suspicious pack were being isolated and screened as a precaution. At one point an ambulance left from in front of the building and was replaced by another ambulance. No one was seen being put in the ambulance.
A sentencing hearing was underway in a second floor courtroom when an RCMP officer dressed in white coveralls came into the courtroom and told people to leave, said Crown prosecutor Jennifer Michelson as she gathered with other court workers on the sidewalk, several metres from the building.
"Judge (Garth) Malakoe was about to sentence the man when we were told to leave," she said. "I still don't know what's going on."
Tu Pham is the lawyer for the man who was being sentenced.
"Safety has to be of the paramount importance but I'm concerned this may mean my client will have to spend another night in jail," Pham said. He described the evacuation as orderly.
One worker coming out of the courthouse said he'd been told to leave and not come back for the rest of the afternoon. The public was being asked to stay away from the building.
RCMP have stated more information will come as it's made available.
