South Canberra schools go into lockdown - The Canberra Times

Red Hill Primary was placed in lockdown on Tuesday afternoon, following reports of a man armed with a gun in the area. Photo: Rohan Thomson

Students at St Edmund's College have described their lockdown ordeal on Tuesday afternoon as terrifying, after police shut down several south Canberra schools following reports of an armed man in the area.

ACT police said they responded to an anonymous report of a man with a firearm in the Manuka shops or Red Hill area about 1.40pm - a call now being investigated as a hoax.

Police told a number of schools in the area to go into lockdown while they investigated the call, including Canberra Grammar, St Clare's, Red Hill Primary and St Edmund's College.

St Edmund's College Year 11 student Ben Gordon said they were told to move to a part of the classroom where they couldn't be seen from the door and stay there until further notice.

"It got the blood pumping," he said.

Fellow Year 11 student Ryan Bol said his class “was going off like a bag of cats” when the call first came through.

“It was mayhem, absolute mayhem, then everyone had to calm down,” he said.

“Our teacher is the director of pastoral care here and he was the one that told everyone to lock the doors and go away from the line of sight. I realised [it wasn’t a drill] when he got called out of class and said ‘don’t move a muscle, get out of the line of sight because I’m serious’.”

“Everyone was freaking out, everyone was real scared.”

The lockdown was lifted shortly before 3pm.

A 25-year-old man was taken into custody on a First Instant Warrant for unrelated matters about 3pm and taken to the ACT Watch House.

It is understood the man was arrested at Red Hill flats in the area. He was not armed and there was no other suggestion he had been outside.

A spokesperson for ACT Policing confirmed he was the subject of the phone call, but he had been arrested on unrelated charges.

"No firearm was sighted," police said in a statement.

ACT Policing Acting Superintendent Joanne Cameron said police had shut down all schools which were along the route between Manuka Shops and Red Hill flats, both areas which were related to the original phone call.

When asked why the public was not informed about the details of the lockdown for close to an hour, she said police's first priority was responding to the incident.

"Police are wholly focused on responding to what was a very serious incident with a firearm. In that case, secondary concerns are getting that information out to the community," she said.

Superintendent Cameron said there had been close collaboration with the Department of Education during the incident.

She said she was not personally aware of any parents raising concerns.

"The opportunity to collaborate with the department in this regard is not something we wish to do, but to test these procedures in a live situation and see the collaboration come together as it did is very, very comforting for the community," she said.

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Canberra Grammar School principal Dr Justin Garrick said earlier that he had no idea why the lockdown had been instituted, but had followed police instructions to ensure all 1700 students and 200 staff were locked in their classrooms with the blinds drawn for the 40 minute duration.

A caller who said they were from the Grammar school said staff and students had been locked inside and told to stay away from windows.

St Edmunds’ deputy principal Peter Milligan said they had only been told that there was a “suspicious character” in the area.

In a statement to parents sent just after 3.30pm, Canberra Grammar School thanked parents for their cooperation during the lockdown.

It said “the school was advised by ACT Police to go into lockdown. The school remained in that mode until advised by ACT Police to sound the all clear”.

“We were very pleased by the way that the students and staff responded to our procedures and grateful to parents for their cooperation,” it said.

It said that it may have been an “anxious time” for students, and those with concerns were urged to contact the school.

A spokeswoman for Narrabundah College said the school did not go into lockdown and it had been not been contacted by police. St Benedicts, in Narrabundah, also did not go into lockdown, nor did St Bede's, in Red Hill, or Telopea Park School, in Barton.

Once the lockdown was lifted, parents were able to be pick up their children as usual.

Mr Hewitt said there had been open communication with parents throughout the day and he was not aware of any specific grievances.

The school put its critical incident plan in operation, and no students were able to leave the school, nor were parents able to enter the school during the lockdown.

A nearby resident of Canberra Grammar said there was a “piercing” alarm ringing at the school for over half an hour. When she called the school to ask about it, she was told they were in “legitimate lockdown” and she should keep everyone indoors until a horn sounded to give the all-clear.