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Residents of Peerless Trout First Nation in northern Alberta had to shelter in place overnight after regional RCMP spotted three people just north of the community Saturday night who were believed to be armed after allegedly stealing several guns and shooting someone earlier in the day.
The incident prompted an emergency alert in Alberta for the area on Saturday night. While police searched for the suspects, the alert told people to stay inside and close their doors and windows, not open their doors to strangers and to report sightings to 911.
The RCMP shelter-in-place order and emergency alert were lifted Sunday morning, as police believe the suspects have left the area and no longer pose a potentially imminent threat to the community.
“It’s scary for our members,” Peerless Trout First Nation Chief Gilbert Okemow told CBC News on Sunday afternoon, adding that the band’s leadership has been receiving text messages from members on Sunday morning seeking updates.
The road where police first found the suspects is constantly busy and some residents have to travel on it because they work out of town, Okemow said.
“Our members are in a situation where we don’t even know who these individuals are,” or where they are from, he said. However, the community knows that these people were “up to no good.”
Police say they are continuing the search for the people who, around 12:30 p.m. MT on Saturday, were armed and stole multiple firearms from a business near Red Earth Creek, Alta., a village about 350 kilometers northwest of Edmonton, before shooting someone in the area, according to two separate RCMP news releases.
The suspects fled the crime scene and police were unable to find them at the time, RCMP say.
But at 6 p.m., police say they were notified of several sightings of the suspect vehicle, a description of which was not provided in news releases.
More than two hours later, at 8:15 p.m., RCMP found the suspect vehicle and three suspects along Highway 686, about 3.5 kilometers north of Peerless Trout First Nation, which is approximately 65 kilometers northeast of Red Earth Creek.
When police found them, the suspects appeared to be using a jerry can to fill a truck with gasoline, RCMP say. They fled into the woods when they saw police, and officers believed they were taking three guns.
The Alberta Emergency Alert was issued at 9:35 p.m. Saturday, after police issued a dangerous person alert. The initial RCMP news release, detailing the shelter-in-place, was issued about 10 minutes later.
Police had established a containment and requested resources to help search for the suspected robbers, RCMP say. They combed the area, but around 6:30 a.m. Sunday, police determined the suspects were no longer in the area.
The emergency alert was canceled shortly after 7:15 a.m. and residents were able to leave their homes again.
Although police believe the suspects are no longer near Peerless Trout First Nation, RCMP said Sunday morning the suspects were still considered to be armed and dangerous.
Police advised the public to stay away from the suspects if they saw them and to call 911.
