An hours-long lockdown at the University of Toronto’s downtown St. George campus was lifted Monday afternoon after police were unable to locate a suspicious person wearing a mask and possibly armed with a gun.

Following the all-clear from police, University of Toronto president Meric Gertler thanked students, faculty and staff for responding “calmly and quickly” to the incident, and to Toronto and campus police for their fast action.

“I think I speak for many of us when I say that this has been a distressing day, but I am very relieved at the outcome.”

The first of two calls to police, at 9:15 a.m., reported a “suspicious person” in the building with his face covered. A second call came about 20 minutes later, reporting a person with a gun at Trinity College, said Const. Allyson Douglas-Cook.

A photo given to police of the “suspicious person” shows a male dressed entirely in black, with a smartphone, a black knapsack and surgical mask, police Chief Mark Saunders told media at the scene late in the morning.

The photo “did not indicate or show a firearm,” Saunders said, adding that police have not been able to make contact with the caller who reported that detail.

During the lockdown, students and staff were ordered to remain inside the buildings, and some were escorted out by the ETF as they searched the campus.

Nearby Sick Kids and Women’s College hospitals went into precautionary lockdowns as well, as several Toronto police units, including the Emergency Task Force and K-9 Unit, investigated. The nearby Ontario legislature building entered a partial lockdown as a precautionary measure.

Police gave an all-clear to the campus by 3:15 p.m., finding no evidence of anyone with a gun, nor a “suspicious person” posing a threat to public safety.

Saunders encouraged anyone with information to contact police. “We live in a different time right now and we ask for vigilance from everybody,” he said, encouraging anyone who sees suspicious activity to report it to police.

A police spokesperson told the Star Saunders went to the command post at Queen’s Park Crescent and Hoskins Ave. to speak with those involved in the operation and helmed the news conference as a result of the “obvious media presence.”

Following the all-clear, police reopened the roads around the university.

Pierre Cayer said he noticed an individual who “may have qualified as suspicious” when he entered the University of Toronto Faculty of Music building at about 8:30 a.m. “They had a scarf wrapped up over their face,” he said. “They also were walking around with a binder close to their head, as if they were using it to hide their face.”

Roughly a half-hour later, police officers stormed a classroom where Cayer and about 50 others had gathered for a music performance class.

Dana Boyd was seated in the same lecture hall when, suddenly, “a police officer shoved a kid into the room from the hallway and said, ‘Stay here until I come back for you.’”

Cayer said the group waited for three hours, until about noon, when they were escorted outside.

“I'm telling you, when the SWAT team came in they told us to put our hands on our head and escorted us out,” he said.

Dan Clifford stumbled across the person raising suspicion inadvertently while moving furniture into the university’s new faculty of law building.

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“I've worked in Toronto for 26 years and I've seen some weird stuff,” said the contract worker, who was also interviewed by police. At first, he thought the covering was “a religious thing,” but noted it completely covered the suspect’s face, including his eyes.

“He stared off into the trees for a minute, waved his hands around and then walked over to the east side of the university,” he said. “It didn't look like a threat or anything, just another odd person in Toronto.”

Chief law librarian Gian Medves had just begun his workday at the Bora Laskin Law Library when he heard the fire alarm. After leaving the building, a police officer instructed him to go back inside, where he waited with colleagues. They were later escorted out by Emergency Task Force police officers.

“When the officers came in wearing full body armour, we knew it was for real,” he said. “They were dressed in black, wearing helmets, holding shields.”

Medves recalled that the last time he witnessed a similar police presence at the university was shortly after 9/11, when emergency workers responded to a bomb threat.

During the investigation, Queen’s Park was closed from Bloor St. W. to Hoskin Ave. and TTC trains bypassed Museum station. The closures were lifted along with the lockdowns.

A male was arrested near the university during the lockdown, but police said it was unrelated to the investigation. He was later released without charges.