A downtown business evacuated its staff and customers on Friday evening after a man caused a disturbance by tossing items round, grabbing two food preparation knives and refusing to leave.
On Nov. 4 at approximately 5 p.m., RCMP responded to a male causing a disturbance at a Healthway on 11th Ave., said Const. Sara Clark, media relations officer for Campbell River RCMP.
“A male entered the store behaving erratically. This caused the staff to call 911 and quickly evacuate the store until police arrived,” Const. Clark said. “RCMP arrived within minutes and entered the building. They found a lone male in the rear of the store in medical distress. He was apprehended and taken to Campbell River Hospital.”
Because of the extent of “Facebook chatter” and customers’ questions after the incident, Healthyway management issued a statement on the Facebook page on Sunday: “We had a serious incident at our store on Friday evening. A man under the influence of heavy drugs entered our store and proceeded to the back warehouse area for employees only. He refused to leave, threw some items and grabbed two knives from a produce prep area. We evacuated the store of customers and employees. The RCMP responded super fast and detained the man who was still in the store. I'm posting this because there was some fb (Facebook) chatter about it and customers asking. No one was hurt and we are relieved.”
The RCMP investigation is ongoing and criminal charges are being considered.
"RCMP would like to thank the staff at the location for their quick response ensuring the safety of its patrons before police arrived, this also allowed for a quick apprehension of the male by RCMP," said Const. Clark.