Police station evacuated

A Mississauga man has been charged after a gun was found in a package outside a Peel Regional Police station this morning.
The force's bomb squad responded to the police station at High Point mall in east Mississauga at around 10:30 a.m. after a suspicious package turned up at the building.
The building that houses Peel Police's Bloor Street Community Station, at the northeast corner of Dixie Rd. and Bloor St., was evacuated when the officer located the package, described by witnesses as a rectangular box, just outside the building at around 10:30 a.m.
The force's Explosives Disposal Unit responded, along with heavily-armed tactical officers.
A section of Dixie Rd. was also shut down for an hour.
The bomb squad examined the package and discovered the firearm, according to Peel Cst. Wayne Patterson. Other contents in the box led police to the man who is now in custody, police said.
Patterson said police don't know why the package was left outside the station.
Some of the evacuated employees were directed to the mall due to the extreme heat today. The building was reopened after 1 p.m. after the bomb squad deemed it safe once again.
"There were police officers with their big guns everywhere and they were just telling us to stay away from the building," said Caroline Urquhart, an office worker in the building. "They got really mad at this one woman because she was just standing near the building having a cigarette. It's better to be safe than sorry."
Michael Montanera, 51, has been charged with unsafe storage of a firearm and ammunition.
lrosella@mississauga.net