RCMP are investigating a threat at Summit Elementary Wednesday afternoon.
(GLYNN BROTHEN / iNFOnews.ca)
April 15, 2015 - 3:21 PM
KAMLOOPS - All students are accounted for while police continue to investigate a threat that locked down Summit Elementary around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 15.
Cpl. Cheryl Bush says a person called into the school and made a non-specific threat, though they did say they had a weapon, which triggered a police response. Parents and some children say there was a man threatening the school with a gun, but Bush did not confirm if a gun was mentioned in the threat or if a live firearm was present in the area.
After the lockdown, students from daycare age to Grade 7 and staff were placed on buses and transferred to the former Pine Ridge Elementary school, now the KOOL campus, three blocks away.
Bush instructed parents to identify their children in front of their teachers in order to pick them up. Kamloops Fire Rescue and St. John's Ambulance facilitated the pickup while several plain-clothes police officers spoke with a mother and a school principal on scene.
While children were picked up, Bush says police searched the school for anything threatening. A canine unit was in the area.
Bush says police have not determined a suspect at this time.
Officers are still cooperating with school district officials and it's unknown at this time if the school will be open tomorrow.
Teachers were put on the buses to transport them back to collect items and vehicles.
Bush said once more information is gathered, a release will be issued to media on Thursday.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Glynn Brothen at gbrothen@infonews.ca, or call 250-319-7494. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
— This story was updated at 4:36 p.m., April 15, with additional information from RCMP.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015