Weapon reported at Vancouver high school was prop axe for school project, police say

Update: On June 17 at 1:13 p.m. PT, the Vancouver Police Department tweetedthat investigators had determined thereported weapon was a prop axe being carried by a student for a school project.

Police were called to a school in East Vancouver for the second time in less than 24 hours after officers said they received reports of a person with a weapon.

The Vancouver Police Department issued a statement on Twitter Thursday, saying Killarney Secondary School, which has about 2,000 students, was put on lockdown as the Emergency Response Team conducted a room-by-room search.

The VPD saidthat after a two-hour search, no armed person was located and no one was hurt.

The report comes one day after an incident in which bear spray was set off at the same school, directly affecting 20 students and forcing an evacuation.

VPD spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison told reporters it appears a teenager who is not a Killarney student entered the school with the intent of assaulting a student. At some point during that encounter, the bear spray was set off.

Firefighters and paramedics decontaminated those who had been sprayed, while some students were taken to hospital as a precaution.

The suspect has not been located and no arrests have been made.