Schools in Williams Lake closed for day after shooting at house

WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. – Schools in Williams Lake, B.C., have been locked down following a targeted shooting at a home.

RCMP Cpl. Dave Tyreman said police seized a firearm and took one person into custody after the attack at about 4 a.m. Monday, April 25.

The home had recently been occupied by someone claiming to be a gang member but a family with no criminal connections now lives there, he said in a news release.

No one in the house was hurt.

Another shot was heard nearby as police investigated the first attack, prompting a lockdown of schools until Tuesday.

Mayor Walt Cobb said the shooting was close to three schools in downtown Williams Lake, the satellite campus of Thompson Rivers University and a bus loop.

The only elementary school in 150 Mile House, 15 kilometres east of Williams Lake, was also closed for the day, said School District 27 superintendent Mark Thiessen.

Cobb placed the blame for the shooting on what he called prolific offenders.

"We are dealing with it constantly and we've been working with the province trying to get some resolve to it," he said. The bureaucracy is a little slow at moving.

"We can't continue to go down this road without some immediate action."