RCMP said a social media broadcast brought a heavy police presence to Lakeshore Road in Kelowna’s Mission neighbourhood on Friday morning.
“RCMP in Kelowna were made aware of an emotionally distraught male broadcasting live on social media, who was believed to be armed and in the Kelowna area,” RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Jesse O’Donaghey said.
However, that turned out to be the wrong location. O’Donaghey said once police investigated they discovered the social media user wasn’t actually in Kelowna at all.
Even though the social media broadcast turned out to originate outside of Kelowna the police response still affected traffic.
“As a precaution and given the information available at the time, RCMP chose to restrict traffic flow in the 3300 block of Lakeshore Road,” O’Donaghey said.
Police were notified just before 9:20 Friday morning. O’Donaghey said all roads were re-opened around 40 minutes later.