Lockdowns over at Crocus Plains, Maryland Park

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This article was published 01/11/2022 (1039 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two separate incidents near Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School drew a heavy police presence Tuesday morning, prompting a lockdown there as well as at nearby Maryland Park School.

At least two people are in custody relating to the second incident, according to Brandon Police Service Sgt. Kirby Sararas.

“I don’t have any details on them other than one [suspect] was located and arrested in this area and another was closer to 20th Street in the 1500 block, approximately,” Sararas said in an interview around 10:30 a.m.

The incident that led to the lockdowns involved a report of individuals with guns near the school around 9:53 a.m.

After the lockdown and a subsequent hold and secure at Crocus Plains and Maryland Park, Brandon Police Service posted on Twitter that after their arrival, police received a call indicating one of the suspects may have run into one of the schools.

Though police later said the information turned out to be inaccurate, they conducted a search of the school for safety reasons.

Brandon School Division received a report about the incident from police around 10 a.m. and was advised to initiate lockdown procedures until further notice, BSD communications co-ordinator Terri Curtis said.

When Sun reporters arrived, units from both the RCMP and BPS were on scene. The intersections of First Street and Maryland Avenue as well as First Street and Patricia Avenue were blocked off by police units and officers armed with rifles were standing nearby.

There were also officers with firearms in front of the school and toward the back, where the staff and student parking lots are located.

Concerned parents and onlookers clustered on the side of First Street north of Maryland, waiting for answers. The lockdown lifted around 11:15 a.m., but police told parents they weren’t allowed to enter the schools until approximately 11:40 a.m.

At 12:09 p.m., the school division posted a message to social media stating that both schools had returned to primary access status and people could leave for lunch, though entrances and exits would continue to be monitored by staff.

Around 2:30 p.m., Supt. Mathew Gustafson said in a release that staff at both schools moved 1,900 people into a “secure environment” and that bus routes were diverted from the area.

“It is my hope that parents, guardians, students and staff understand and have confidence in the continued focus on safety, the close communication between police and schools, the timely response, and the communication demonstrated in this incident,” Gustafson said.

“I understand that it can be difficult for students and staff to move into a lockdown. However, we always take these incidents very seriously and will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure the safety of our students and staff.”

Any parents or guardians with further concerns are encouraged to contact their child’s school directly.

After activity around the schools had simmered, a police van sat parked in the lot at Kin Park while two more police cruisers blocked the entrances to a cul-de-sac to the north on the 1500 block of Third Street.

One Sun journalist saw an officer rummaging through a clothing donation bin at Kin Park.

In an earlier incident that police say was separate, nearby residents described seeing the occupants of a red Dodge Caravan boxed in by police cruisers and arrested just across the street from the school on Maryland Avenue around 8:30 a.m.

“I started watching as they were pulling people out of the van,” said Rhyanna Runearth, who lives in an apartment complex near the corner of First Street and Maryland Avenue. “I saw them arrest three people this morning.”

Pointing to a “no parking” sign on Maryland Avenue, she said the red van had knocked it over before getting boxed in slightly further to the west. One of the male suspects fought police as he was arrested and spit on one of them, she said.

According to the witness, at least one woman was arrested.

Photos of the incident provided to the Sun by Fredrick Archie Campbell show several police cruisers surrounding the red van, which has several doors and its front hood open.

Another nearby resident on Cornell Bay, Jarrod Paul, told the Sun he had been temporarily handcuffed as police made sure he wasn’t one of the suspects.

“At 7:30, I went to go take out my trash and there were people getting arrested and thrown out of their vehicle,” Paul said. “Suspects ran from the vehicle, there were two of them getting thrown down on the ground. They spit on the officers and kicked them. They were pretty mad, screaming and shouting.”

Two of them ran down Cornell Bay and into his yard, Paul said. He was arrested when he went outside to see what was going on, although he convinced the officers it was his home and they checked inside before letting him go.

On YouTube, a video titled “GTA!!! Brandon, MB 11/01/2022” posted Tuesday morning shows what appears to be the same red minivan cutting in front of traffic as it turns off of First Street into the parking lot of the Husky gas station at the corner of First and Rosser Avenue.

After it drives over the boulevard and across a sidewalk, the van is pursued by a BPS police cruiser. The video cuts to a new section of footage where further south on First Street, the driver is parked at a train crossing with lights flashing.

The red van cuts across the median and in front of the cars closest to the train crossing, followed by a police cruiser in pursuit.

When the driver stops at a red light at the intersection of First Street and Richmond Avenue, five more police cruisers flash their lights and sirens and pass through the intersection.

Then, the driver reaches the intersection of First Street and Maryland Avenue, where multiple police cruisers with flashing lights are seen surrounding the van, in the same location from the eyewitness photos.

Police couldn’t provide more details by press time but said both incidents are still under investigation.

» cslark@brandonsun.com, with files from Kyle Darbyson and Tim Smith

» Twitter: @ColinSlark