Hold-and-secure orders lifted at 4 Victoria-area schools after weapon reported

Four Victoria-area schools were briefly placed under hold-and-secure orders Tuesday morning.

The order was triggered just before 10 a.m. after a driver on the Trans-Canada Highway called Saanich police to report two teenagers with what appeared to be a handgun near the Galloping Goose trail.

Police immediately ordered all nearby schools to hold and secure while police searched the area and the local schools for anyone matching the description of the teens.

École Marigold, Colquitz Middle School, Spectrum Community School and St. Joseph’s Elementary School were all under hold-and-secure orders as of 10:25 a.m.

By 10:45 a.m., the order was lifted.

Police found no one in the area matching the description and there were no other reports of a weapon seen.

Police officers swarmed two schools off Burnside Road at about 10 a.m.

A student told me he heard “attention all students, attention all students. We are going into a hold-and-secure, this is not a drill” over the speaker system. @CTVNewsVI https://t.co/en9pypUHgb pic.twitter.com/1geraSAODW

— Alanna Kelly (@CTVNewsAlanna) September 24, 2019