Langara College to reopen Wednesday following arrest over ‘incendiary devices’
Posted April 2, 2019 7:34 am.
Last Updated April 2, 2019 6:39 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Langara College remains closed Tuesday after a number of “incendiary devices” found at the school prompted a hasty evacuation of the campus Monday afternoon.
School officials said the campus would reopen on Wednesday and classes would resume, but the T Building would remain closed for repairs.
Vancouver police said only some of the devices went off, but added they were designed to “cause damage” and could have easily caused harm as well. Hundreds of students and staff were ushered off campus by Vancouver Police, Vancouver Fire Rescue, BC Ambulance staff.
Police say officers swept the campus for anything else that may have been deemed as suspicious.
A man in his 20s was arrested on Monday in relation to the incident. During a press conference Monday afternoon, Sgt. Jason Doucette said the suspect was still being questioned and they hadn’t figured out a motive.
“There’s no information at all that this is related to anything bigger than what’s happened [Monday] at the school. We’re not going to rule anything out we’ll be looking into this individual’s background. We’ll speak to his friends and his family.”
RELATED: Man arrested after ‘incendiary devices’ found at Langara College
A mobile command unit was set up on campus, and the school asked students who knew anything or saw what happened to contact police right away.
“Don’t assume that other people have told us what you saw,” Doucette added. “Let us decide if what you have is important.”
No injuries were reported during the evacuation.
Confused students
Despite the closure, some students showed up to campus, saying they were not aware of what had happened and were not informed of the closure.
“I did not know,” said one student, noting it was not until a guard told her the campus was closed that she found out what had happened.
“I was told by the security guard that the campus was closed until further notice because I was not here yesterday I don’t know what happened,” another student told NEWS 1130 after showing up to campus Tuesday morning.
-With files from Kurtis Doering, Sonia Aslam and Espe Currie
