The East Kootenay community of Cranbrook, B.C., found itself host to a scene better suited to TV’s Sons of Anarchy on Friday, as violence exploded between a pair of rival biker gangs.
Five people were hospitalized with stab wounds after what RCMP described as a brawl between rival gangs from Alberta in Cranbrook on Friday night.
Mounties were called to a gas station on Cranbrook Street North around 7 p.m. to reports of “multiple people fighting,” and were able to separate two groups “determined to be rival outlaw motorcycle gangs.”
BC Emergency Health Services says paramedics weren’t called to the scene.
But officers were later called to Cranbrook’s hospital, where police say five people turned up on their own with non-life-threatening stab wounds.
Interior Health confirmed the hospital was locked down on advice from police.
The RCMP said officers were stationed in the parking lot to prevent further violence between the gangs, “who had attended the hospital, but were refused entry.”
The stabbing victims were released after treatment, and officers escorted one group out of town, police said.
No arrests were made.
The Cranbrook RCMP and the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit — B.C.’s provincial gang squad — continue to investigate.
Police said there was no indication the brawl was linked to the ongoing Lower Mainland gang conflict.