Calgary university responds after armed intruder turns out to be chef with knife
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CALGARY – Mount Royal University is reminding people about its mobile safety app after the Calgary campus was locked down this week on the threat of an armed intruder that turned out to be the innocent case of a chef with a knife.
The school was shut down for hours Monday afternoon under a “shelter in place” order as police swarmed the area in the hunt for a suspect.
The university, in a statement, said it did its best to respond but “faced challenges relating to the complex nature of the incident.”
It said it sent several messages through email, social media and MRU Now – an app for mobile devices that delivers notifications of campus emergencies – but expects not all got through.
“Like many apps, MRU Now can go into ‘hibernation’ or be off-loaded from devices if not used regularly,” the university said.
“We are asking all employees and students to take a moment to download MRU Now or check their notification settings to allow notifications from the app.”
Mount Royal said it continually reviews internal processes and responses related to safety incident.
No one was hurt in the lockdown. The chef works in food service for the school.
A Calgary police spokesperson said, “One person was taken into custody and released without charges, however the investigation is ongoing and charges may be pending.”
The lockdown led to consternation. Some university staff and students said they didn’t find out about what was happening from the school.
Doug King, a criminology professor, said he was on campus when the lockdown happened along with a group of students who he said were fully informed.
“The first email was from MRU security just to be cautious and police were on campus. We were calm, cool and collected. Then we get an email and an MRU pushout to shelter in place,” King said in an interview Wednesday.
King said a police officer showed up a short while later and suggested they leave the building.
He said criticism of the university isn’t fair, that Calgary Police were professional and there was no sense of panic.
“It was all ‘Hell’s broken loose, Mount Royal has no contingency plan’ and things like that, which I think is just grossly unfair. Was it perfect? No. Was it good? Yeah,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2026.