The center of the police operation was the building that houses Ubisoft’s offices in Montreal.
Montreal:
Police evacuated a building housing the offices of French video game maker Ubisoft in Montreal on Friday after receiving a hostage call that turned out to be a hoax.
The drama unfolded on Friday afternoon when riot gear, armored vehicles and ambulances surrounded the red brick building in the Mile End neighborhood north of the city center.
“The perimeter was quickly secured and … no threats were detected and no injuries were reported,” police said in a statement, adding that they would investigate the call which resulted in a “significant” deployment of forces.
Officers were dispatched to the scene after an emergency 911 call, police said earlier.
The center of the police operation was the building that houses Ubisoft’s offices in Montreal, among other companies.
All Ubisoft Montreal staff are safe and have been evacuated, said Ubisoft spokesperson Heather Steele.
Aerial images taken by the French-language Quebec news channel LCN showed people gathered on the roof terrace of the building, as well as heavy objects left at the door to block it.
Ubisoft employee Eric Pope tweeted a screenshot from LCN footage of people gathered on a rooftop.
“This is insane. This is my team on the roof,” Pope wrote in the tweet. According to his LinkedIn profile, he is a senior community developer at Ubisoft Montreal. The Pope did not respond to a request for comment.
Another Ubisoft employee told CTV News station in Canada that office workers were ordered, via a memo, to hide in a locked area and be silent.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
