Second Child Luring in West Kelowna Has Been Revealed

After RCMP issuing a warning on an attempted child luring in Rutland, a second (earlier) incident has been brought to the community's attention.

This incident happened Friday, February 13th near Rose Valley Elementary School in West Kelowna. However, the school district says that some misinformation is going around due to an older internal email that said it occurred “last Friday”.

Location of West Kelowna Road relative to Rose Valley Elementary. (Photo Credit: Google Maps)

School District 23 has confirmed that one of the elementary students was on the way to school when he was approached by a stranger in a black car on West Kelowna Road. Apparently the stranger tried to offer the student a ride to the school and when he was unsuccessful, he left. The student did not tell the school about the incident but told his parents later that night, who contacted RCMP.

The principal, who was informed by one of the parents, then talked to teachers to discuss stranger danger protocols with the student. Since this information began to be talked about in the community and parents began to approach the school, an email was sent out Monday evening to clarify misinformation. Particularly, the timing of the incident has been confused, since the previous email sent out internally had said "Last Friday", which seemed to place the incident the day after the attempted child luring in Rutland.

Rose Valley Elementary School. (Photo Credit: Google Maps)

It is not yet known if there is a connection between the two incidents.

“Our concern is that the student told some friends at school about it and they laughed it off as no big deal and the student didn’t report it to the office or teacher,” reads the email from Rose Valley. “If anything like this happens again, the student should notify the school right away so that we can report it to the RCMP.”

The elementary school also offered the BC RCMP's “Street Proofing” Safety Tips to the parents.