An emergency alert issued in Nova Scotia has been cancelled, after RCMP say they found no indication shots had been fired, and attributed at least one of the reports to noise from a construction site.

RCMP released the “all clear” at about 5:47 p.m. ADT on Friday, about three hours after the original alert, advised people to stay inside with their doors locked.

“The areas of Haliburton Heights, Hubley, Tantallon and Hammonds Plains have been extensively searched,” the statement said. “No evidence of shots fired. Police continue to patrol the area.​”

Story continues below advertisement

The alerts came in a province already on high edge in the wake of Canada’s largest mass shooting. Twenty-two people, including a police officer, were murdered over the course of 13.5 hours, in a rampage that has devastated people around the province.

In the wake of those shootings, some have questioned the RCMP’s handling of the events, including the decision not to send out an emergency alert while the rampage was unfolding.

A heavily police presence at a Halifax-area Canadian Tire during the alert on Friday was later confirmed by police in Halifax to be a weapons call involving two men attempting to purchase ammunition for an air pistol. Police said there is not believed to have been any threat to the public, and that the men are now facing firearm charges.