I read with interest the Citizen article on the trial of a Vanderhoof resident shooting at the Vanderhoof RCMP station about a year and a half ago.
My personal interest is because I was there in Vanderhoof and was nearly caught up in the actual event. I would like to praise the Emergency Alert system. I had picked up lunch at the KFC, parked across the highway in a Vandererhoof municipal park to eat lunch, because of COVID-19 sitting inside a safe restaurant was not an option. I was just finishing when I got an Emergency Alert on my phone about an active shooter in Vanderhoof.
I had not heard any gunshots but did pay attention to the alert. I got in my car and headed downtown to do some business when I drove by two rather large RCMP officers standing on a street corner with rifles.
Whoops, time to go home. The alert was serious.
When I got home and looked at the news on my computer, I was surprised that the incident ended at a tire shop. That tire shop was right beside the municipal park that I had eaten lunch minutes before the RCMP ended this violent incident peacefully.
I would like to thank the RCMP involved for ending this incident peacefully and sending out a timely Emergency Alert.
Wayne Martineau
Fraser Lake
