Four North Vancouver schools were placed in lockdown mode for 30 minutes Thursday morning while police investigated a report of a man with a gun in the area.
North Vancouver RCMP received a call around 10:30 a.m. from a neighbour who reported seeing a man take what looked like a long gun from the trunk of his car into his house, said Sgt. Peter DeVries, spokesman for the North Vancouver RCMP.
“We treated it as though it were a serious incident,” said DeVries.
Multiple officers were dispatched to the scene in the vicinity of Kings Road and Lonsdale Avenue in Upper Lonsdale and the area was cordoned off.
Four schools, including Braemar and Carisbrooke Elementary, Mountainside Secondary and the French-language school Andre-Piolat put extra security measures in place.
Schools were locked and students and staff weren’t allowed to leave the buildings while police investigated, said Deneka Michaud, spokeswoman for the North Vancouver School District.
But it was quickly determined that the possible weapon spotted by the neighbour was actually a paintball gun, said DeVries.
Lockdowns at all schools were lifted by 11 a.m.
