Drone shot at while hovering over playground full of children in Cavendish, P.E.I., says witness

CAVENDISH, P.E.I. — A day of taking part in and filming movies at a playground became a police operation for a bunch of holiday makers in Cavendish.

On July 13, RCMP arrested a 64-year-old man after he allegedly shot at a drone flying close to his property.

In keeping with a witness who was current when the incident occurred, who requested to not be named as a consequence of security considerations, the drone on the time was getting used to make a video for social media and was flying over the play space of a Cavendish rental cottage lot.

“There have been plenty of youngsters within the play space. Two little women, they had been making a TikTok video, and their father had a small drone he was hovering above them, and so they had been simply dancing,” the witness mentioned. “The dad was bringing it up and bringing it down, I suppose he was making an attempt to get completely different pictures of the children. It was a small drone, not an enormous one. The playground was full of youngsters, however that’s when this man decides he’s going to fireplace a (gun) into the playground.”

The witness mentioned there have been round 11 youngsters within the playground in addition to a number of adults. Initially, nobody realized what was occurring, they mentioned.

“We thought it was a firecracker on the primary shot, however then there have been two extra. Finally, everybody began speaking and pointing towards his home after which I used to be like OK, I do know what occurred.”

Police referred to as

In keeping with the witness, the suspect’s home sits behind the cottage lot. They mentioned whereas they didn’t see the suspect hearth a gun, one other visitor might see the suspect capturing on the drone hovering over the playground.

The witness mentioned a name was positioned to the RCMP shortly after the friends realized what was occurring. Nonetheless, they mentioned police didn’t arrive till virtually an hour later.

“I get that it is slower right here as a result of it’s worthwhile to rally the troops and get issues prepared, however that decision took over an hour once I mentioned any person is capturing at a drone over a playground full of youngsters,” they mentioned. “We had been in Cavendish, and so they got here from Charlottetown, it’s sort of rural, so I perceive the time-frame. The place I’m from, although, for a gun criticism, they’d have been there in minutes.”

When police arrived, officers in tactical gear surrounded the suspect’s house, who ultimately exited and co-operated with police, mentioned the witness.

Man arrested in reference to firearm offences, https://t.co/b4puYUwKIs #Cavendish

— RCMP P.E.I. (@RCMPPEI) July 15, 2022

Suspect arrested

Sgt. Craig Eveleigh with the Queens District RCMP confirmed police acquired the decision round 8 p.m. on July 13. Nonetheless, he couldn’t say when police arrived.

Eveleigh mentioned the suspect was arrested with out incident and was later launched with a court docket date scheduled for Sept. 26.

After the arrest, a search was carried out of the suspect’s house, which noticed the seizure of the gun used and different weapons discovered on the property, however Eveleigh couldn’t say what number of, particularly.

At present, police are investigating 4 fees in opposition to the person, together with careless use of a firearm, possession of a weapon harmful to the general public, discharging a firearm recklessly and contravention of the use and storage of a firearm, Eveleigh mentioned.

Nonetheless, the witness mentioned there ought to be extra fees in opposition to the person, because the property the incident occurred at is inside the Prince Edward Island Nationwide Park zone.

“We’re within the nationwide park. You don’t shoot a gun within the nationwide park, interval. That’s a federal offence,” they mentioned.

As a result of nationwide park zone’s border, which runs by the 2 properties, figuring out whether or not the incident occurred within the zone is a bit troublesome, mentioned Eveleigh.

“It will get a bit convoluted there as a result of I feel the precise one that fired the gun was residing contained in the zone, however the cottage the drone was flying over was truly exterior the zone of the nationwide park. It was very near the parks space,” he mentioned.

Eveleigh additionally mentioned RCMP wouldn’t be trying so as to add fees or fines for utilizing a firearm inside a nationwide park.

Firearm security

For the witness, the incident has left them feeling uneasy and frightened about doable future incidents.

They mentioned the state of affairs additionally isn’t being taken as severely appropriately by police, noting a July 15 release from the RCMP on the state of affairs warned individuals about following the Transport Canada guidelines when flying drones however included no warnings about correct gun use.

“It simply felt insensitive,” they mentioned. “With all the things happening within the States, perhaps this could shine a light-weight on the concept this could occur right here, too, the place somebody can shoot right into a playground.”

Cody McEachern is a enterprise reporter with the SaltWire Community in Prince Edward Island. He could be reached by e mail at [email protected] and adopted on Twitter @CodyInHiFi.