AMHERST, N.S. — Three schools in northern Nova Scotia were locked down Tuesday morning when someone told police they had spotted a person carrying a weapon in the west end of Amherst.

Deputy police Chief Ian Naylor says the suspicious sighting had not been confirmed by noon local time.

Two officers on foot patrol were at Amherst Regional High School at 10 a.m. when someone approached them, Naylor said. The witness said they saw someone with some type of weapon walking on Townsend Street, which is about 100 metres from the school.

Naylor declined to say what type of weapon the witness said they saw.

However, he said police informed the school's principal, who responded by locking the doors and telling students to stay inside.

The Chignecto-Central Regional School Board then temporarily locked down E.B. Chandler Junior High school and the Spring Street Academy elementary school.

"There's been no incident, nothing has happened," Naylor said in an interview. "In the interim, the schools decided to take precautions."

Naylor said police searched Amherst Regional and officers were posted outside the other two schools.