(OTTAWA) The Rideau Center was evacuated Tuesday afternoon after police were alerted to a possible shoplifting with a weapon. A suspect has been arrested and the operation is continuing, the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) said shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday.
Posted at 12:56 p.m.
Updated at 1:17 p.m.
“One person arrested, police operation continues,” the OPS briefly tweeted on Tuesday.
A few minutes earlier, the police force wrote on the same social network that the officers were responding to “a call for shoplifting, possibly with a weapon”, and that there were “no other suspects”, nor a “threat to public safety”.
That tweet, however, was deleted within minutes of posting it.
The mall had just reopened after being forced to close for about three weeks due to the presence of the “freedom convoy”.
The SPO urged citizens to stay away from the scene.
“Due to an ongoing police operation, please avoid Dalhousie Street towards the canal and the Mackenzie King Bridge,” he wrote on Twitter.
The area around the Rideau Center was busy with “freedom convoy” vehicles, particularly at the intersection of Rideau and Sussex streets, prior to last weekend’s police operation.
The establishment is located just opposite the Senate, where the debate began on Tuesday surrounding the use of the Emergency Measures Act.