UPDATE: 11:45 a.m.
While no one was at risk and no bomb was found, police are trying to determine who is responsible for calling a bomb threat in to the Accent Inn early this morning.
According to police, the short, but threatening, call came into the hotel desk at 1:12 a.m.
Police determined that an employee from the hotel took a call from an unknown person who stated that there was a bomb in the building.
“Police treated the non-specific threat as serious and responded to the hotel immediately,” says Const. Jesse O'Donaghey.
“With the assistance of the Kelowna Fire Department and the BC Ambulance Service on standby, we evacuated the hotel as a precaution.”
O'Donaghey says approximately 30 occupied rooms of the hotel were evacuated and the guests were all sent across Harvey Avenue to the Capri Hotel, where they could stay warm and wait for police to finish their search.
“We brought in two police service dogs, Ice and Frag, they are both trained in the detection of explosive materials and devices,” says O'Donaghey. “The teams performed a systematic and thorough search of the hotel and nothing of interest or concern was found inside.”
Police then conducted background searches and investigations on all the hotel guests and staff.
“We were able to determine that this was a false report,” says O'Donaghey.
“A prank call is a possibility. We are going to continue to investigate and follow up on any leads.”
At this time O'Donaghey says investigators have not identified the suspect responsible for making the false call to the hotel, and continue to investigate.
“We believe the caller may have been a male, but we are relying the information provided to us by the hotel employee.”
If you have any information you are asked to contact the Kelowna RCMP at 250-762-3300.
Remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, leaving a tip online at www.crimestoppers.net or by texting your tip to CRIMES (274637) ktown.
UPDATE: 8:45 a.m.
Kelowna RCMP have confirmed a threat made to the Accent Inn has been proved false.
A press conference is planned for 11 a.m., at which time further details of the incident will be released.
ORIGINAL
Guests at Kelowna's Accent Inn were evacuated and police cordoned off the area, early this morning.
Brendan Prough was staying at the hotel with his family and reports an apparent threat to the business caused the evacuation. People staying at the hotel were escorted to the nearby Coast Capri Hotel.
The incident occurred about 4 a.m., and police still had Gordon Drive taped off more than an hour later, northbound, beside the Starbucks coffee shop, and a perimeter was set up around the entire block.
Several police vehicles were seen on Gordon Drive and in the parking lot of Accent Inn. A fire truck also responded and was nearby, at the entrance to Starbucks, said photographer Steve Wraith.
Castanet will have more details as they become available.
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