UPDATE: Suspicious package sparks evacuation of Interior Health building in downtown Kelowna

KELOWNA – Orlando Russo was sitting beside the suspicious bag that triggered the evacuation of the Interior Health building in downtown Kelowna this morning.

"It was kind of tense there for a bit," Russo told iNFOnews.ca shortly after the evacuation ended. "But this is Kelowna. Nothing like that happens in Kelowna."

He was waiting for his son, who was in a counselling session when an Interior Health worker noticed the bag, which Russo suspects was left behind by a client. Russo was able to see into the bag when the worker checked it.

"It looked like it was a battery," Russo said. "But it was probably a wireless speaker."

Still, that triggered the evacuation that lasted until just before 11 a.m. today, Feb. 20.

Kelowna RCMP confirmed in a news release that at 10:14 am a suspicious package was reported on the second floor of the building in the 500 block of Doyle Avenue.

Several members of the Kelowna RCMP assisted with evacuating the occupants while a police dog cleared the building. The package was determined to not be suspicious in nature and all employees and occupants were allowed back inside.

— This story was updated at 11:40 a.m. Wednesday Feb. 20, 2019 with new information from the scene and RCMP.

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