Armored car heist leaves 3 dead at Canadian university

An armored car robbery at a university campus in Edmonton, Canada, has left three security guards dead and one in critical condition.

The suspects fled and remain at large.

The attempted robbery happened just before midnight on Friday morning near a student residence at the University of Alberta.

Police were still searching for suspects, but later found an abandoned vehicle from G4S Security running, with its lights on, the National Post reported.

"The university was quickly put into lockdown, it has its own protocols and it remains in lockdown now. It’s a crime scene so students are required to stay remain in their dorms," police spokesman Scott Pattison told the Post.

The deceased are two men and one woman from G4S, The Globe and Mail reported.

"Tonight, a friend and I discovered 3 shot security guards. Two were dead, one was screaming for us to help him. Worst night ever," Sapphira Nuttall, a student and volunteer with Safewalk, wrote on Twitter.

The Edmonton Journal reported that witnesses heard loud bangs like firecrackers and saw armed tactical police near the residence.

The University of Alberta posted an alert on its website early Friday morning that the shooting involved an armored car.

"Armored car robbery on campus in HUB Mall. Edmonton Police are on scene. Exams and other university operations are proceeding as regularly scheduled," read the notice on the school's website.

The Canadian Press reported that no students were involved in the incident.

The shootings occurred at the Hub Mall, a student residence and shopping mall that houses over 800 students and over 50 stores.

The robbery happened around a cluster of bank machines.

One anonymous source told the Globe it was a "perfect kill zone."

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