Police surround bus on Kamloops bridge for report of handgun

Several Kamloops RCMP officers converged on a city bus yesterday afternoon for an unfounded weapons call.

Police were called around 5:15 p.m., March 2, where a man was described cocking a handgun and "pointing it around," according to a Kamloops RCMP news release.

Although a specific bus number and a description of the suspect was given to police, the man was not found after officers surrounded the city bus on Overlander Bridge.

“Due to the elevated risk involved and the potential threat to public safety, multiple police officers responded, quickly located and then stopped the bus travelling northbound on the Overlander Bridge,” Insp. Jeff Pelley of Kamloops RCMP said in the release. “Officers were able to confirm no one on the bus was injured, nor was the suspect described present.”

Police later came to believe the suspect got off the bus on Victoria Street West before the report was given to police, according to the release.

The suspect is described as a bald Indigenous man, between 30 and 40 years old. He was wearing a black three-quarter sleeve shirt and a black mask.

Kamloops RCMP say the man exited the public transit bus between 4:45 p.m. and 5:10 p.m. onto Victoria Street West, and police are asking witnesses to contact the detachment at 250-828-3000.

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