EDMONTON ? Three people were shot and killed at the University of Alberta following an armed robbery attempt on an armoured truck overnight.
A fourth victim is in hospital with critical injuries, said Edmonton police Staff Sgt. Erik Johnson.
All four victims were reportedly employees of G4S Security. Police said no students were involved.
Police were called to reports of gunshots at the University of Alberta's HUB Mall, which runs the length of several blocks, shortly after midnight.
Three of the victims ? two men and one woman ? died of their injuries.
The fourth victim, also a man, was taken to hospital in critical condition, Johnson said.
The University of Alberta posted an alert on its website early Friday morning indicating the shooting involved an armoured-car company, but police were not confirming that information and Johnson could not provide the name of the company.
HUB Mall was cleared and secured by police, he said.
"The police investigation is ongoing and they are chasing leads as we speak," police spokesman Scott Pattison said from the scene.
Police initially believed a lone shooter remained at large, but continue to question witnesses with some taken to headquarters while others remained at the scene.
Pattison could not confirm whether the victims were employees of an armoured-truck company, and said their identities will not be released until their families have been notified.
"Obviously detectives are interviewing everybody and anybody that may have seen what happened and possibly the suspect or suspects fleeing the scene," Pattison said.
Carl Amrheim, the University of Alberta provost, extended his condolences to the families of victims on behalf of the university.
"This is terrible," Amrheim said. "This is the sort of thing you hope never occurs."
The university crisis-management team, of which he is the chair, was contacted by university around 1 a.m. local time.
"My thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones of those killed and injured at the University of Alberta, Edmonton this morning," Edmonton-area MP Rona Ambrose wrote on Twitter.
Jacqueline Woo, a science student at the university, said it was just after 11:30 p.m. on Thursday when she and a friend heard two loud cracks. "We thought it was hammering or some sort of construction," Woo said, her voice trembling.
The pair of friends left their room to investigate. They found police officers running down the hall. They talked to other concerned students and realized the two loud cracks had been gunshots. They continued walking to the south side of the mall until they found seven officers in bulletproof vests escorting a wounded man out of the mall on a stretcher.
The man's shirt was off and his face was bloodied, Woo said.
The two women returned to their room and immediately turned to Twitter to get more information.
Julie Yekimchuk, a fourth-year bachelor of arts student, said news of the shooting spread quickly through the school on social media, with some students reporting they were in "lockdown" around 12:30 a.m. Friday.
"It's pretty shocking. You never think something like that could happen," said Yekimchuk.
She said the school was still a busy place with final exams and a conference taking place.
As of about 4:30 a.m., three city buses remained at the University Transit Centre to shelter shocked students from a steady rain after dozens of police cars descended on the campus. One ambulance remained on the scene.
Portions of the mall were taped off by police with officers maintaining watch at various points around the building. Police said the homicide unit is investigating and they expect the scene to be closed off for several hours.
Representatives of Alberta Health Services would not comment on the condition of the fourth victim and instead referred the matter back to police.
with files from The Canadian Press and Postmedia News
? Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
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