**UPDATE: University of Toronto buildings cleared and reopened; No suspect located, police say.**
The University of Toronto closed multiple buildings on campus as police responded to calls about a suspicious person at a busy intersection at the heart of the city, by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and the Royal Ontario Museum.
At 9:06 a.m., Toronto police responded to a call about a suspicious person with his or her head covered on campus. “In light of this weekend we will treat it at its highest priority,” said Victor Kwong, a media relations officer for the Toronto Police Service.”We dispatched ATF, emergency task force, we dispatched our canine and our local division.”
A second caller reported a person wearing a mask carrying a gun. Kwong said police don’t know if the caller was seeing officers responding to the incident, or another person.
Police evacuated some buildings and put others on “hold and secure” status, meaning people weren’t told to hide under their desks but they weren’t allowed to leave or enter the buildings.
The Queen’s Park area nearby is shut down, subways were ordered to bypass the station there, and surrounding hospitals were put on lockdown as police investigate.
Police Chief Mark Saunders said shortly before noon that they continue to search for a masked man dressed in black with a backpack.
Saunders described a photo of a man dressed that way, taken by a witness.
There is no gun visible in the photo, Kwong said, and police have no confirmation that there is a gun.
Another man was taken into custody and held for investigative detention, but that is not the man in the photo, Kwong said.
Kwong said that from the photo it appeared possible that the man was wearing a surgical mask. He said there are several reasons why someone might wear a surgical mask there; a couple of buildings nearby are under construction, there are hospitals nearby, and Toronto has a large Asian population and it’s not uncommon for Asians, when sick, to wear a mask, he said.
Tensions are high after Sunday’s attack on a gay nightclub in Florida, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history with 49 people killed, with both police and civilians quick to alert to suspicious scenes.
University of Toronto’s campus remained partially closed Monday midday.
(c) 2016, The Washington Post ยท Susan Svrluga
