Lockdown lifted at Colwood school

A Sooke School District bus is shown picking up students in an undated photo. (CTV News)

The West Shore RCMP says there is no longer a security risk to a French immersion school in Colwood Thursday.

Police say they received a report of two men with a long gun sitting in a vehicle near College Road and Thetis Crescent around 2:30 p.m.

The report added that the men were pointing the gun towards some trees before they stepped out of their vehicle and walked towards a wooded area.

Police say they notified nearby École John Stubbs Memorial School and Royal Roads University of the incident, as well as military police.

On Thursday afternoon, the Sooke School District (SD62) warned families that a lockdown was in effect at École John Stubbs Memorial School, which has students from kindergarten to Grade 8.

"Bus students already on buses are being escorted to [a] safe location and are being supervised by their bus driver," said the school district at the time.

A short time later, the West Shore RCMP said the security risk was over at the school.

Instead of a lockdown, Mounties said the school was in a hold-in-secure, which was lifted at 3:30 p.m.

RCMP say that officers arrested two men who were in possession of an airsoft rifle in the area. The men were in police custody Thursday afternoon as Mounties continued their investigation.

A hold-and-secure is issued when a security concern is taking place outside a school in the surrounding area. School entrances are locked but normal activities can continue within the building, such as classes.

Meanwhile, lockdowns are used "to prevent intruders from entering occupied areas of the school, or in times when it is necessary to isolate students and staff from a danger outside or within the building," reads the Sooke School District website.