Campbell River police are recommending people don’t handle a newly purchased BB gun in the parking lot of the store they purchased it from or anywhere else in public.
The reminder comes after Campbell River RCMP say their officers received reports of a man handling a pistol at the to a Wal-Mart parking lot on May 17.
RCMP say officers responded and caught up to the man at the nearby Home Depot parking lot, where they removed him from his vehicle. Officers discovered that the pistol was, in fact, a BB gun that the man had just purchased and “could not wait to unwrap,” according to police.
At the end of the day, officers determined that there was no threat to the public and the man was “free to go on his way,” although he was apparently a “little shaken” from the multi-officer response, the RCMP noted.
“Unfortunately these kinds of occurrences are a little too common,” said Const Maury Tyre of the Campbell River RCMP in a release. “These BB and pellet pistols are designed to look like the real thing. Members of the public and police cannot tell them apart at first glance and it can create some very dangerous situations.”
Tyre said it’s not the first time an incident like this has happened, adding that when police receive reports of handguns being waved around, they take it seriously and respond.
“We have had reports of people waving handguns around out of the windows of their cars, or using an imitation to threaten people with. The response of officers will be as if the firearm is real because until we get our hands on it, we can’t tell for sure. We have to act as if every weapons call is legitimate to ensure the public’s safety and our safety,” Tyre added.
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