Witness heard six gun shots after RCMP converged on Kelowna neighbourhood

Updated at 10 p.m. with witness account

Kelowna RCMP raced to the Kettle Valley neighbourhood after reports of shots fired on Wednesday afternoon.

Numerous police resources attended the residential areae near Chute Lake Road, southeast of downtown at 5:35 p.m.

“I counted 13 police cars staged on the road,” Mackenzie Craig told Global News outside his Kettle Valley home. “They were all suiting up and getting a bunch of their long rifles out. Then they headed up into Kettle Valley.”

“It was close to five minutes after we saw them go up in a line, no sirens on, just lights. We were just sitting around waiting, then all of a sudden we heard, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop come from off in the distance,” he said.

Craig said he heard the six gun shots after police arrived.

“Concerned for the well-being of members of the general public, police closed portions of the roadway and called in for added support from the RCMP Air Services fixed wing aircraft from Kelowna and specially trained members of the South East District Emergency Response Team (SED ERT),” Cpl. Jesse O’Donaghey said.

“We saw the police air cruiser around flying in circles for close to an hour,” Craig said.

The scene was surreal for the usually quiet, suburban neighbourhood on the edge of Kelowna.

“My heart dropped a bit when I heard the gunshots go off because I knew something was serious then, but you don’t see that every day around here,” he said.

Four people were taken into custody for questioning, according to RCMP.

“Those individuals will be the focus of our still ongoing investigation into the source of the reported shots being fired, and whether or not there was any criminality involved,” he said.

RCMP said there have been no reports of injuries.