(MARSHALL JONES / iNFOnews.ca)

Kelowna RCMP closed several streets for most of the day in Rutland yesterday for a pair of incidents involving the force's heavily-armed emergency response team.

The series of events started when an officer noticed a white Ford Escape, previously deemed suspicious, in a Cactus Road driveway yesterday morning, Dec. 29, according to an RCMP news release.

It was in the 1000 block of Cactus Road, but the officer didn't initially stop the vehicle. They instead followed the SUV and its two occupants to a nearby gas station, just after 9 a.m.

The officer turned on their emergency lights after the SUV pulled up to the gas pumps, but the Escape quickly sped off, swerving through traffic. A high-speed chase through traffic would have been dangerous, so the officer didn't pursue.

Another officer found a firearm and ammunition on the side of a nearby road, believing the suspects in the Escape tossed it as they fled.

The SUV was eventually found in the same Cactus Road area. RCMP said the officers used footprints in the snow and neighbourhood video surveillance to track the suspects back to the original house, which is "familiar with police."

Multiple officers, including members of the emergency response team and the police dog service, coaxed several people from the house as they waited for a search warrant to be approved, according to the release.

Seven people were arrested and police searched the house later that day.

A second unrelated call just two doors down resulted in the arrest of another person with an outstanding warrant. Police found three firearms in the second home after the suspect surrendered.

"It was an interesting day," Kelowna RCMP media relations officer Mike Della-Paolera said in the news release.

Police didn't identify any of the eight people arrested, nor did they say what offences the seven people in the first house were arrested for.

RCMP also did not say what, if anything, was seized from the first house during the search warrant.

Both incidents, however, are still being investigated, according to the news release.

“Our teams did an incredible job securing the neighbourhood and juggling the two unfolding incidents," Della-Paolera said.

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