With sidearms drawn, West Shore RCMP officers arrested a Saanich teen Sunday evening who was walking the streets with a replica handgun.
At about 8 p.m. on June 12, a citizen reported a man dressed in black was walking up Watkiss Way toward Victoria General Hospital armed with a gun.
RCMP officers arrested the 18-year-old without incident and brought him to the West Shore RCMP detachment. The weapon turned out to be a BB pistol closely resembling a 9mm handgun.
The young man was later released after being cautioned about his decision to carry what appeared to be a real gun in his hand while walking down the street. Police couldn’t say why he was carrying a BB gun.
“Police officers responding to a call involving a gun do not have the luxury to assume the gun is a toy,” Const. Julie Chanin said in a release. “Until proven otherwise, officers must treat the threat of potential harm and risk to the public as real.”