Update: School is back to normal after Kamloops RCMP were unable to locate any suspicious people in the Valleyview area after getting a call just after 1:00 this afternoon.
Witness reports say there are upwards of a dozen police cruisers and officers with guns drawn on Highland Road, between the Trans-Canada Highway and Valleyview Drive.
SD73 Assistant Superintendent Bill Hamblett says schools in the area were placed under hold and secure protocols for precautionary reasons.
“Today, students were called back into school following a report from the RCMP regarding a safety incident in the vicinity of Valleyview, Marian Schilling,” he said. “Out of an abundance of caution, RCMP requested a hold and secure at both Marian Schilling and Valleyview Secondary School.”
Hamblett says there will be no disruptions to the end of the day and schools are set to be dismissed as usual.
Cpl. Jodi Shelkie says a hold and secure protocol is a “very minor interruption to day to day activities.”
“Hold and Secure is just asking that no body goes outside, and if they were outside, to go inside the school,” she noted. “They are still free to walk throughout the school, and to go to different classrooms and so on. Nothing changes except for we ask that they don’t go outside, just for safety sake.”
Around 2:10 p.m., when no one suspicious was found, Shelkie says most officers left the area and both schools were told to cancel the Hold & Secure.
Original: Kamloops RCMP are responding to a report of a suspicious person in Valleyview, who they are now looking for in that area.
Witness reports say there are upwards of a dozen police cruisers and officers with guns drawn on Highland Road, between the Trans-Canada Highway and Valleyview Drive.
NL News reporter Bill Cowen is at the scene, and says a police chopper is circling in the air as well, with police searching main streets and nearby residential streets.
Witnesses also say Valleyview Secondary is under a hold and secure pattern as a precaution.
Cpl. Jodi Shelkie says there’s no risk to the public, and says police will update media if needed.
