All Fun And Games Until Someone Calls The Police

Quite the commotion went on at a home in the Northeast end of High River on July 7.

At around noon, RCMP responded to a call of a man dressed in military attire, walking around the home while pointing what appeared to be a rifle at vehicles and people inside the home.

However when a team of RCMP members showed up on scene, Cst. Todd Olson says they realized it was a false alarm.

"The members responded and located the male who happened to be a youth who was playing games (with other children) with what appeared to be a real rifle," he says. "It couldn't be determined that it was a toy at that time until we were able to get our hands on it and observe what we had for a weapon."

He says the toy, which was determined to be a pellet rifle, was seized and and will be turned over to the youth's parents.

Given all that High River's gone through in the last couple of years, he says RCMP took every precaution to ensure the safety of residents and its members.

"We of course always err on the side of caution," he says. "We don't ever want to have something drastic happen due to a firearm complaint."

He says they want to remind parents to make sure their children's toys are identifiable as such.

"A lot of the toy guns they have nowadays are identifiable as toys," he says. "We can't distinguish from a distance, unless it does have those markings, whether it is a real firearm or not."