No charges laid after knife incident at Leduc Hospital

LEDUC -- No charges have been laid after an incident involving a knife at the Leduc Community Hospital.

According to Leduc RCMP, the incident took place shortly after 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 21. It's reported that a male patient located in one of the rooms brandished a knife at some of the hospital's nursing staff. Prior to the arrival of authorities, the individual barricaded himself in the room by pushing furniture up against the door.

Mounties note that members of the Leduc Fire Department were called in to assist, and that drone technology was also utilized to assist the situation. RCMP then began conducting negotiations with the male, which resulted in him relinquishing the knife and being turned back over to the hospital staff without any incident. Despite the fact that he brandished a knife at the nursing staff, no charges were laid by police in connection with the incident.

"This was a great demonstration of teamwork between RCMP, fire, and hospital staff," said Insp. Kiel Samotej, Detachment Commander with the Leduc RCMP. "In these situations, our biggest concern is everyone's safety, and today's result highlighted how this collaboration created a positive outcome."

The Leduc Community Hospital is located on 48 Street and consists of 70 beds: 34 acute care beds, 22 subacute beds, and 14 transition beds.