UPDATE: Downtown Kelowna street reopens; suspicious package empty

KELOWNA – RCMP have reopened a downtown Kelowna street after a “suspicious” package discovered earlier today turned out to be empty.

Police closed Cawston Avenue from Ellis Street to St. Paul Street this morning, July 19, as officers and firefighters investigating a “suspicious” item.

“Through the combined effort of the Kelowna RCMP, it's police dog services and the Kelowna Fire Department, emergency crews took the necessary precautionary steps to ensure the ongoing safety of the general public,” Const. Jesse O’Donaghey says in a media release.

“As a result, police were able to confirm the suspicious package was empty and did not pose any threat to the public,” he says.

RCMP aren’t saying why investigators considered the package to be “suspicious” in the first place.

Cawston Avenue reopened just before noon.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Howard Alexander at halexander@infonews.ca. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.