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Nelson police respond to two gun incidents

Police responded to two separate complaints involving firearms within an hour of each other Sunday evening.
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Several weapons charges are pending against two men arrested in Nelson last night in the second of two incidents involving guns.

At about 6 p.m., they received a complaint of a man with a firearm in the 300 block of Jam Factory Lane. A witness said the gun appeared to be a hunting rifle.

When officers arrive, they saw two men in a wooded lot. As they prepared to approach them, the men were seen placing a case in a vehicle and leaving. The vehicle was stopped, the men were arrested, and a rifle was located in the vehicle. The men are each facing five charges including unauthorized possession, careless use of a firearm, and possession of a weapon dangerous to the public.

The men are 59 and 67 and from the area. It’s not known when they will appear in court.

An hour earlier, police received another gun complaint. Someone at the corner of West Richards and Vancouver streets in Rosemont said they saw a man with a rifle in a yard, pointing it into the street.

The Nelson Police Department and RCMP members responded and identified a home where the man was, Sgt. Paul Bayes wrote in a news release.

“A high risk takedown of six individuals was done without incident,” he said. All were from Nelson, and their average age was about 30.

A pellet rifle with a scope was found inside a vehicle parked at the house.

“[We] had a conversation with the group who agreed that the actions taken by police were warranted and all apologized for one person’s poor choice to brandish the realistic looking rifle,” Bayes said.

The gun was seized but no charges are expected. Bayes said in the second incident, police considered that there was an opportunity for education, the rifle wasn’t real, and no one in the group had been in trouble with the law before. By contrast, in the first incident, there was a real firearm.

Although neither incident was related to threats at Mount Sentinel secondary, Bayes said he was sure “heightened awareness in the community played a factor in noticing the behaviours and reporting [them].”