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Toronto high school locked down as police investigate report of person with knife

Duty Insp. Jason Albanese, spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service, speaks to reporters near Lakeshore Collegiate Institute following a report of a person with a knife in the immediate area. (CBC - image credit)
Duty Insp. Jason Albanese, spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service, speaks to reporters near Lakeshore Collegiate Institute following a report of a person with a knife in the immediate area. (CBC - image credit)

A high school in Etobicoke was locked down for more than an hour on Tuesday afternoon after police were told that a person with a knife was in the immediate area.

Police say one person is in custody and there were no reported injuries.

Lakeshore Collegiate Institute, which is on Kipling Ave. near Lake Shore Blvd., was locked down shortly after 2:30 p.m. The person with a knife was reportedly involved in a fight with another person, police said.

The fight was not on school property, Duty Insp. Jason Albanese, a spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service, told reporters near the school.

When police arrived on the scene, they determined that the suspect was not in the school.

Officers searched classroom by classroom for a victim, but did not find anybody, he said. Police have identified the two people involved in the fight. Albanese declined to say if they were students.

There is no threat to public safety, he said.

Police remained on scene to help with dismissal of the students, police said in a tweet later.

Fight follows recent violence at other Toronto schools

The incident follows a rash of violence at Toronto schools, including a fatal shooting outside a school on Oct. 31 and a stabbing inside a school two weeks ago that left a student with life-threatening injuries.

On Monday, Toronto Mayor John Tory said the city and Toronto District School Board have committed to increased co-operation to address what he describes as "extremely troubling" incidents of violence in and around schools.

"We all agree that violence in schools is unacceptable and we must do everything we can to stop it," Tory said.

He said officials agreed at a meeting Monday to work together to prioritize schools that require enhanced youth programming, mental health supports and food security initiatives. He says they also committed to working together to secure targeted funding from other levels of government.