The after effects of the Dawson Shooting 2 weeks ago are still lingering around the college and it shows, it’ll likely be this way for some time to come.

I was on my way back to the college with a couple of coworkers today after having lunch at Westmount Square and on the corner of Wood Ave. there were 3 police cars there waiting for the light to change. Not too odd we thought, police have been patrolling around the college quite regularly ever since the tragedy. But then there were two more cars coming up de Maisonneuve, and then a couple more…

Now we’re sort of worried and confused because at this point we’re close enough to see the entrance to the college on Maisonneuve and there was a large crowd of people, mainly students, hovering about and a few more police cars starting to pulling away. There were even people on the terrace at Alexis-Nihon looking over toward the college. Now keeping in mind that it was right about 1:00PM, our thoughts quickly became “No, not again?” …

As we approached the doors, we spotted the Director General and a few other colleagues standing about talking to students, no one seemed to be in a panic. “Thank God!”

After talking to a friend/PR person, I found out that some students were playing cards in the Atrium and at one point (coincidently enough right about 12:40ish) one or more of the card-playing students started yelling out of excitement. That, along with the ongoing sounds of jackhammers due to the construction of the new theater, got more than a few other students very nervous and in a panic, some called the police thinking that there might have been another gunman.

Thankfully there wasn’t and it was a false alarm. I think that it’s fairly understandable that some students panicked, given that it was the two-week-aversary, in the Atrium, loud noises and someone yelling. I have to admit that, although no one likes or deserves a scare like that, it was kind of reassuring to see the police respond so quickly.

Let’s just hope the Montreal Police Department understands and doesn’t start to think we’re crying wolf too often…