Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

UPDATED: Man in mental distress taken into custody following two Prince George school lockdowns

The school lockdowns were ended just before 2 p.m. this afternoon

2:36 p.m.

Mounties in Prince George have provided details into an incident that resulted in two school lockdowns in Prince George.

RCMP say at approximately 11:45 a.m., officers responded to a report of a man in mental distress at a residence on Handlen Road. 

Due to Kelly Road Secondary School and Heather Park Elementary being close by, police told school administrations to initiate emergency procedures to ensure students remained safe inside. 

At roughly 1:20 p.m., the man was taken into custody by the RCMP's Emergency Response Team without incident and taken to hospital. 

Cpl. Craig Douglass says the investigation is continuing. 

2:08 p.m.

School District No. 57 says the lockdowns at both schools were lifted as of 1:40 p.m. today (March 7). 

We are awaiting information from Prince George RCMP and will update this story once police release more details.

12:45 p.m. 

Two Prince George schools are in hold and secure and shelter in place.

Heather Park Elementary School was put in a shelter in place at 12:11 p.m. and Kelly Road Secondary School was placed in a hold and secure, also at 12:11 p.m.

"Just prior to noon today the RCMP were responding to a situation that is taking place in the community that is close to Kelly Road Secondary School," School District No. 57 (SD57) superintendent Marilyn Marquis-Forster tells PrinceGeorgeMatters. "The police directed administration to move into lockdown and they felt this was a good precaution to keep everyone safe." 

She says Heather Park Elementary School, which is near KRSS, was asked to move into a shelter-in-place situation which is a precautionary measure where students are kept inside. 

"We continued to have communication with the RCMP and very shortly around 12:12 p.m. RCMP directed we move from the lockdown call to a hold and secure and what that allowed us to do was to call in any students that were outside and get them into building so where know where they are and are safe." 

She says the RCMP felt this was the appropriate precaution to take and students who were outside for the noon hour were brought back into the building. 

"We continued to communicate with local RCMP and we are told that RCMP Cpl. Craig Douglass was dispatched to the Kelly Road situation to help us communicate with the public around what is going on," says Marquis-Forster.

"The police are in control of the situation and we will follow their instructions when they say it is safe to remove the hold and secure and students can go home then that is what we will do. If they have that in place prior to normal dismissal it will be normal dismissal." 

She says the school district is waiting to hear from the RCMP regarding next steps.

"Community sometimes does need to respond to these situations and we appreciate the RCMP communicating with to us and giving us quick information and our school community is cooperating with the police in order to keep our kids safe and keep our staff safe."

-with files from Hanna Petersen and Kyle Balzer