Regina police are looking for suspects after a can of bear spray was used at a crowded public swimming pool.
Officers arrived at the city’s Wascana Pool mid-afternoon Thursday after a report of a weapons incident.
They found about 200 patrons suffering the effects of bear spray.
Bear spray, used as a bear deterrent, contains ingredients that irritate the eyes, the nose and the throat.
Witnesses told the officers that a group of four to five suspects wearing balaclavas and other face coverings entered the pool and began firing off the can.
Local, independent, in-depth.
Our Prairie stories.
The suspects were described as males about 13-16 years-old.
The pool had to be shut down on the day of its much-anticipated reopening.
One pool patron told CTV News their eyes started to burn while they were swimming and they had to be washed out.
Another patron, Jana Pratt, who was there with her son and special-needs daughter, told CTV she saw other pool users who had apparently been sprayed and had to dodge what she described as a cloud of bear spray.
“We couldn’t leave because the back gates were locked and we were forced to wait on the lawn area,” she said. “The exit gate was across from where we were but it wasn’t accessible, so we waited, as to get there you had to go through the cloud.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2023.
Our Prairie stories matter too.
The Flatlander takes a closer look at the stories that unite us, and make us unique, in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Will you help us tell our stories?
