A hoax call originating from the U.S. was responsible for a significant police presence in Bedford, N.S., early Monday morning, police said.

Halifax Regional Police said they got a call at 12:30 a.m. AT from a man purporting to live in an apartment complex on River Lane. The caller said he had shot his father and was holding his mother hostage at gunpoint.

Officers went to the apartment complex and other residents were evacuated. A Halifax Transit bus was called in to keep the evacuees comfortabl…