BUFFALO LAKE MÉTIS SETTLEMENT — Following a late evening Oct. 6 lockdown of the Buffalo Lake Métis Settlement, Boyle RCMP detachment commander Sgt. Dennis Properzi said the report of an active shooter at large that prompted responses from four local detachments, the police K-9 services, and an Emergency Response Team, was found to be false.
"The ambulance had a dispatch that several people had been shot at a property in the area of Buffalo Lake, and obviously we got dispatched from them to assist," said Properzi in an Oct. 7 interview.
Properzi said after locking down the community, gathering information, and opening communication channels with the broader settlement through community leaders, RCMP were able to determine the caller was afflicted by serious mental health issues.
"We took the call seriously until proven otherwise, and then we were able to determine with the property and the persons that were allegedly involved that the event did not occur and was based on non-factual information," said Properzi.
Members from the Athabasca, Boyle, Lac La Biche, and Smoky Lake detachments responded to the community immediately to assist first responders and the Emergency Response Team was on route to the settlement from Edmonton.
No criminal charges have been filed to date as a result of the false report, but Properzi said RCMP members did apprehend the individual under Form 10 of the Mental Health Act. The individual was transported to a facility in Edmonton for assessment and potential treatment.
Properzi said the lockdown for Buffalo Lake Métis Settlement lasted approximately 30 minutes and no danger to the public was present.
"From my perspective as a manager, I oversee all the actions of all the members, and I think everything went flawlessly," said Properzi. "If that would have been an actual scenario, we would have been on top of it in minutes, which is pretty phenomenal with the distance that we have sometimes here."
