Hold-and-secure procedures at two Nanaimo schools were lifted after RCMP located a suspicious person and seized his airsoft rifle.
Nanaimo RCMP Const. Gary O’Brien said police received a report at about 9:30 a.m. Thursday, May 13, of a man walking in the area behind the Nanaimo Ice Centre with what appeared to be a rifle.
“The complainant had actually snapped a picture of the individual and that was shared with our members as they arrived on scene,” O’Brien said. “It confirmed that it appeared to be some sort of long-barrelled rifle. We didn’t know if it was a firearm or an airsoft at that point.”
Police set up containment and emergency response team members and a police dog searched the marsh. Police came upon a man at about 10:30 a.m. who said he’d been in the area earlier with an airsoft rifle.
“We went with him to a location where the airsoft rifle was seized,” O’Brien said. “During that time [Nanaimo District Secondary School and Fairview Elementary were] on a hold-and-secure, which has since been lifted.”
The man, of no fixed address, from whom the airsoft rifle was seized, was not arrested.
Under hold-and-secure procedures, school entrances are locked and no one may enter or exit the building, but classes proceed as normal inside.
School district spokesperson Dale Burgos said there were no threats made to schools, students or staff, and that the schools entered the emergency procedure as a precaution while RCMP investigated the report of the suspicious individual.
Large police presence behind Nanaimo Ice Centre on Third St.
NDSS reportedly on hold and secure status.#Nanaimo #RCMP @NanaimoBulletin pic.twitter.com/8G2HJR55FA— Chris Bush (@ChrisBushphotog) May 13, 2021
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Nanaimo RCMP confiscated an airsoft rifle from a man, of no fixed address, who was seen with the rifle behind the Nanaimo Ice Centre on Third Street on Thursday, May 13. (Photo submitted)
