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Residents of Shannon Lake in West Kelowna didn’t expect to wake up to a serious police presence in their neighbourhood.
On Wednesday morning, Kelowna RCMP released information that the bodies of a man and a woman were found in the area of Shannon Way and Westville Way around 7:00 a.m.
The BC Coroners Service has been called in to help investigate what authorities are calling sudden deaths.
Police have remained on the scene all morning, and neighbours are left with confusion.
“We’ve lived here since ‘82, we’ve never had a problem,” said one resident. “We’ve never had a break-in.
“We catch ourselves, sometimes we walk away and come home and the door is open, we forget about the door.”
The Shannon Lake homeowner and his wife, both past retirement age, take frequent walks around the block. Friends were calling them Wednesday morning to make sure they were okay. To say the least, they were surprised.
“Honestly, it’s a good neighbourhood,” the man continued. “We see more young people moving in with kids because it’s safe.
“The school is there. This is a good neighbourhood…as far as we know.”
Shannon Lake Elementary is just a few blocks away from the crime scene.
One parent said she first heard about the situation on the Shannon Lake Friends Facebook group at about 8 a.m.
“I was hoping there wasn’t some crime that was close to the school but that’s what it was sounding like,” she said. “I knew that it was close to the school from what all the parents were describing.”
Initially, she said she was wondering what was going on and when parents would be notified, especially if the school was on lockdown, or if the children were safe.
“I would expect the parents to be notified through their notification system, a phone call, an email,” she continued. “As far as I know a lot of parents were aware of this happening super early, at like 7 this morning.
“We were all still taking that route and being rerouted to drop off the kids.”
There are about 350 students attending the school, but so far, parents have yet to be notified of anything.
“With that neighbourhood being so close to the school and children walking to the school, parents should’ve been notified earlier of the situation,” added the Shannon Lake mom.
“It makes me feel a little frustrated, however, I trust the local RCMP and I believe that if there was an immediate threat, that we would be notified.”
When asked if she would have expected this type of incident in the area, she didn’t hesitate to say no.
“Never, no, it’s a great neighbourhood.”
A representative for the school assured KelownaNow that the children were safe, and RCMP confirmed the building was never under a lock-and-hold order.
At this stage, RCMP are still early in their investigation.
“Updated information will be provided as it becomes available,” said RCMP Cst. Jesse O’Donaghey.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact the West Kelowna RCMP at 250-768-2880, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, if they wish to remain anonymous.
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