A trio of North Shore teens — at least one of them masked — who hid in a wooded area near the Hollyburn Country Club shooting at people and passing cars with air pistols were nabbed by police Thursday.
West Vancouver police officers seized three air-powered pistols and took the three 14- and 15-year-old boys back to the station after getting reports about the air shooters in the 900 block of Cross Creek Road.
The teens — including two boys from West Vancouver and one from North Vancouver — were eventually handed over to their parents.
But Const. Jeff Palmer, spokesman for the West Vancouver Police Department, said the teens were playing a very dangerous game — one that could have ended very badly.
Palmer said the air pistols being used by the boys weren’t marked in any way to distinguish them from real guns. Just carrying a fake gun that looks like a real one in public puts the person carrying it and the public at risk, said Palmer — especially if police think the gun could be real. “It can be a very dangerous, dynamic situation,” he said.
In this instance, fortunately police had a description from reliable witnesses about what sounded like pellets hitting nearby sidewalks. There were no injuries or damage reported as a result of the teenage air-snipers’ game.
Police are urging parents to think twice about whether it’s a good idea for their kids to have air guns, said Palmer, and to make sure the toys are never wielded in public.
One parent brought along a second “fairly realistic looking” fake assault rifle from home and also turned that over to police on Thursday.
Investigators are recommending the incident be dealt with out of the courts through North Shore Restorative Justice.
