Three youths are lucky to be uninjured after a high risk take down by Campbell River RCMP revealed the weapons the were carrying were fake.
Police received a complaint of a male, dressed in all black clothing, walking down Spit Rd. towards the Island Highway carrying a machine gun at 1:57 a.m. on Aug. 28. Members on shift responded and located three youths matching the description, who were taken into custody.
In this instance the youths put the weapons down in the grass just prior to police arrival, and there were no injuries. But police had their guns drawn, and there was “potential for lethal oversight,” according to Sgt. Craig Massey of the Campbell River RCMP.
“Police believe the guns are real until they are proven otherwise,” wrote Cpl. Poppy Hallam in a news release.
A total of four imitation firearms were located and seized. Three were handguns and one was an assault rifle; all were Airsoft guns. One of the handguns had been clear originally, but was blacked out, including the orange muzzle, and the assault rifle also had its muzzle blacked out.
“These firearms, I’ve looked at them myself, they’re very realistic looking,” said Const. Keeley Deley.
The youths were arrested for possession of weapons dangerous to the public and possession of imitation firearms. They were taken into custody, but released to their parents shortly after.
According to Deley, restorative justice is being considered because the youths cooperated with police and have no history of criminal records.
This is the second incident of this nature in a few weeks, wrote Hallam in the release. And she reminds the public that imitation guns, especially blacked out ones seen at night, look realistic to police, and create a dangerous situation for everyone.
“It is scary for the public to be arrested at gun point and it is scary for police to attend to these sorts of calls,” she said.
