Lockdown lifted at Etobicoke school after person reportedly seen with knife following fight nearby

A secondary school in Etobicoke was briefly placed under a lockdown order on Tuesday afternoon as police searched for a person who was spotted with a knife.

Police say that they were first dispatched to Lakeshore Collegiate Institute at around 2:30 p.m. after receiving reports about an individual who was seen with a knife during an altercation that took place off school property.

The lockdown remained in effect until students began being escorted out of the building at around 4 p.m.

“There was some conflicting information at the time on whether or not either of these two persons had entered the school following the altercation,” Acting Duty Inspector Jason Albanese told reporters at the scene. “As a result the school was placed in lockdown. When police arrived on scene we were able to quickly determine that the suspect was not on scene. But we were unable to locate the victim. So the school remained in lockdown until we were able to do a class-by-class search to ensure that the victim wasn't inside suffering from any kind of injuries.”

Albanese said that police have now identified the two people involved in the earlier altercation. One of those individuals is being detained, though it is not clear if they will face any charges.

POLICE INVESTIGATION: (UPDATE)
- police o/s
- school is no longer in lockdown
- officers are remaining on scene to ensure a safe dismissal of students & staff
- no reported injuries
- ongoing investigation#GO2381555
^al

— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) December 6, 2022

Albanese described both individuals as roughly school-aged, however he refused to say whether they are students at Lakeshore Collegiate Institute.

“There are no major injuries that we are aware of at this point and we are not looking for anybody that is severely injured,” he said.

Good Samaritan broke up fight

Few details have been released about the circumstances leading up to the altercation.

However, one man who spoke with CP24 said that he saw a male and a female involved in a fight with another male and rushed to break it up.

The individuals left the scene a short time later but the man said that he saw one of them produce a “large” knife with a blade that was about the size of a ruler.

“Basically it was a girl and her boyfriend or whatnot fighting with someone else over a scooter or I don’t know what it was but it became a serious fight,” the man, whose name is Tarek, said. “I just did what I thought was right (in breaking up the fight), my cousin came to help me and that is where it ended.”

The lockdown at Lakeshore Collegiate Institute comes one day after the TDSB held a special meeting to discuss school safety following a number of recent violent incidents, including a fatal shooting outside Woburn Collegiate Institute on Oct. 31.

There was also a stabbing at Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute on Nov. 14 that left a Grade 12 student with critical injuries.