Thousands of people were turned away from the arena on the final day of the Williams Lake Stampede, held for the first time since the start of the pandemic. “You don’t expect that in small-town BC,” Call told CBC News. RCMP said they have arrested a suspect in the shooting they believe was “targeted.” Two people were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds around 3:30 p.m. Sunday, an RCMP spokesman said in a phone interview.
Safe evacuation
Call, 24, was one of three bullfighters who helped protect bullfighters from cattle during an event. When they heard about the shooting, they jumped into action to help with the evacuation. It was estimated that there were about 3,000 spectators in the stands. “You could definitely see everybody in the crowd stand up and look up right in the stands,” said Call, who lives in 150 Mile House, east of Williams Lake. “And suddenly someone shouts, ‘Gun! “The people in that corner started to panic a little bit. There was a lot of traffic directly under the stands. . . . We all started unpinning things and opening any gate we could so everyone could get out as quickly and easily as possible. .” Those efforts — and calm instructions from the event announcer — helped ensure no one was injured as they left the stands, said Court Smith, president of the Williams Lake Stampede Association. “Thousands of our patrons were safely evacuated,” Smith said in a post on the club’s Facebook page. “Our announcer did a fantastic job of getting people out of the facility.” “We’re waiting on updates from the RCMP to see where things go from here,” Smith said. Police said investigators suspect the shooting was targeted and do not believe there is any further danger to members of the public, RCMP spokesman Chris Clark said in an interview Sunday night. “We believe the individuals were known to each other,” Clark said. He asked anyone with video of the incident to contact the Williams Lake RCMP. The four-day rampage, in the 800 block of Mackenzie Avenue South, began on June 30.
