On Wednesday, February 7th in Smithers, St Joseph’s Elementary School was put into lockdown by the RCMP because a man appeared to be in distress close to the school property which caused concern.
RCMP were called by a resident in the neighbourhood of Broadway and Columbia Street when they saw a man entering backyards. The caller shared concern that there was a threat of a possible firearm, and so the elementary school was contacted by the police to close down all rooms and doors to the outside.
Online, Smithers residents expressed concern that they were not alerted to this potential threat, however, the RCMP was deployed quickly and detained the man without resistance. He was not carrying a weapon.
Smithers Mayor Gladys Atrill spoke to CICK about the incident as well as what lessons the town council and emergency services are taking away from this incident. Mayor Atrill also shared why the town’s mobile alert system Voyent was not used to alert townsfolk.
