UPDATE: False alarm triggered heavy police response in Kamloops

KAMLOOPS – A 9-1-1 call which triggered a heavy police response of officers armed with rifles, the emergency response team, the K-9 unit and more this afternoon turned out to be a false alarm in Brocklehurst.

Const. Jason Epp, a spokesperson for the Kamloops RCMP, said the call came in around 1:30 p.m., July 2. The person calling said a man on the 1100 block of 14 Street had a knife and a gun in his backyard and shots were fired.

"We thought it was a barricade situation. We cordoned things off," Epp said. "All the information we received initially has been proven to be false."

Epp said officers surrounded the home and called out to the people inside.

"They were as shocked as anybody," he said.

The family gave statements to police. Epp said the investigation will continue to find out who made the call which came from a live person. He said it didn't sound like the computerized calls which are characteristic of 'swatting'  — a technique used to trigger a false alarm for a police response. Epp said the response was a drain on local resources.

"We sent every resource at our disposal," he said. 

If the person who made the call is caught, he or she could face public mischief charges.

From 1:30 p.m. to around 4:30 p.m the presence included officers in uniform, army fatigues and undercover as well as a K-9 unit. Officers with guns drawn were seen along Lethbridge Avenue and near the A.E. Perry Elementary schoolgrounds. Mounties were checking cars as they passed the scene.

Areas between Ollek Street and 13 Street, including Lethbridge Avenue, were cordoned off.

Some residents were either evacuated or told they could be evacuated.

When Jonathon Frazier arrived home at 1020 Ollek St. he said he saw officers with rifles drawn and concentrated at a home on 14 Street. He said police told him nothing.

"We were just told to stay in our homes,” he said. “Just ‘don’t move’. We don’t have a clue what is going on."

#Kamloops pic.twitter.com/ckbMYyeHPA

— Jamie Rye (@tayho1977) July 2, 2015

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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 2:52 p.m., July 2, 2015, with additional details.

— This story was updated at 3:45 p.m., July 2, 2015, with additional details.

— This story was updated at 5:22 p.m., July 2, 2015, with additional details.