Man arrested in connection with lockdown at Etobicoke school

A lockdown at an elementary school in Etobicoke, Ont., has been lifted following a gun scare and a man is in custody, police said Thursday afternoon.

The suspect was arrested  a short distance from St. Josaphat Catholic School and was detained under the Mental Health Act.

He was unarmed, a police spokesman said. The man's name was not immediately released.

The incident began shortly before noon with a telephone threat from an unidentified caller who said he was planning to go to the school  with a gun and shoot someone.

Police from 22 Division flooded the area and the school,  near Lakeshore Boulevard and Browns Line,  was locked down with all entry and exit doors sealed and all classrooms locked.

The incident rattled nerves, occurring just one day after a loaded .357 magnum was seized at an east-end Toronto school, and four juveniles arrested.

The phone threat to St. Josaphat was received at 11:57 a.m. and the lockdown lasted a little more than an hour as police searched the building, Toronto Catholic District School Board spokesman John Yan said.

Classes for the afternoon resumed as normal.