KAMLOOPS, B.C. — RCMP have instructed parents not to pick up their children from an elementary school as police conduct a high-risk operation at a trailer park involving an individual who is believed to be armed.
Cpl. Jodi Shelkie said Friday students will be bused to a bridge, where parents can pick them up.
School staff will remain with students if parents normally pick up their children at school and can't get to the bridge, Shelkie said.
She said children will otherwise be bused home as usual though Highway 5 has been closed and it could take up to an hour before kids are dropped off.
Shelkie said there is a significant police presence including an emergency response team at the G & M Trailer Park near the highway.
Update – Police advise high risk situation ongoing at G&M Trailer Park https://t.co/eE7YAVZH05 #Kamloops
— Kamloops RCMP (@KamloopsRCMP) October 27, 2017
Residents of the trailer park have been told to remain inside and to lock their doors and windows.
Nicole Calver, a receptionist at the First Nations Tax Commission, said she heard sirens at about 11 a.m. and looked out the window to see about 15 RCMP vehicles head into a trailer park across the street.
"That's where we saw the squad vehicle ram a green truck," she said. "We did hear, we did witness six gunshots and we saw people running around, I think squad team ... running around the trailer park after that."
The nearby Sk'elep School of Excellence was under lockdown, Calver said, adding she heard the announcement from the school's speaker.
People in her office have been instructed to stay away from windows and not to go outside, she said.
Calver said she's trying to listen to radio reports "to plan our routes home, if we can get out of here."
