A heavy and armed police response to the Okanagan Rail Trail near a Kelowna car dealership on Wednesday morning was caused by an unfounded weapons report.
Mounties responded to reports of a man with a gun in the woods near Kelowna Mini in the 2500-block of Enterprise Way at 8 a.m. that morning.
Several officers flooded the area — many of whom were equipped with C-8 carbines — and quickly located the suspect, who was detained without incident.
“Officers were able to determine that the item the complainant had seen was not a weapon,” said Cpl. Jocelyn Noseworthy of the Kelowna RCMP.
“Fortunately, this appears to have been a case of someone mistaking an item from a distance and the gentleman was released immediately.”
Witnesses told the Capital News the dealership was briefly locked down as RCMP investigated.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with further information from the Kelowna RCMP at 10 a.m.
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