There was a heavy police presence in uptown Fredericton on Tuesday morning after officers responded to a report of a person with a firearm.
Fredericton police said they eventually identified a “suspect vehicle” and officers “recovered a firearm alongside a deceased individual” after the two-hour operation.
Officers were first called to Prospect Street, in a commercial area, at around 10:45 a.m.
The call prompted Fredericton High School, Priestman Street Elementary School and École Sainte-Anne to be placed under hold and secure protocol.
“Members of the public and media were asked to avoid the secured perimeter along Prospect Street, between the plaza entrance across from FHS and Smythe Street, to allow officers to safely conduct their work,” Fredericton Police Force said in a statement later that afternoon.
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Police said they identified a “suspect vehicle” and secured it. They noted the operation concluded at around 1 p.m.
“In the vehicle, police recovered a firearm alongside a deceased individual,” the statement went on to say.
It was a scary two hours for Darienne Hegarty, who was with her young daughter inside the Shoppers Drug Mart at the strip mall just metres from the police operation.
Hegarty said officers entered the store at around 11 a.m. and the store was locked down. She hid under a desk with her daughter in the pharmacy department.
“There’s a lot of times that I read about it and see about it on social media. Never thought my daughter, who is seven, would have to be locked under a desk at a place that we go to get our medicine. (…) scary for sure,” she said.
“We heard a loud bang (…) Once the tow truck came for the car, we were able to go home.”
Fredericton Police Force declined an interview.
A spokesperson for the region’s police watchdog, the Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT), said it was informed about the incident but that “based on information received, it does not meet SiRT’s mandate for an investigation.”
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