A toy firearm that led to a temporary school lock down in West Vancouver Tuesday. photo supplied,
West Vancouver police are again warning the public after someone carrying a fake gun provoked a very real police response.
Staff and students at West Vancouver Secondary were told to stay in their locked classrooms on Tuesday afternoon after someone spotted a group of teens with a firearm on the 1700 block of Inglewood Avenue.
“Obviously we were extremely concerned because of the information in and of itself and also the proximity of it to a school,” said Const. Jeff Palmer, West Vancouver police spokesman. “It did appear they were horsing around with it – not that that would make it any less serious for us in terms of a response.”
Police found the teens and retrieved the toy gun, which the boys said they’d purchased for a video project. Students at the high school were allowed to leave shortly before 3 p.m. and no charges are being considered.
“I really can’t emphasize it enough. We’ve dealt with these in different circumstances before. We do attempt to resolve these in the safest way possible but the fact of the matter is, actual firearms are an unfortunate fact of life in the Lower Mainland and we do have to protect ourselves and other people around us by responding to these kinds of reports as though it could be a real firearm that’s involved,” Palmer said.
