Downtown Vancouver library briefly placed on lockdown

Officials locked down the downtown Vancouver library briefly Wednesday afternoon, after receiving an anonymous tip a man planned on coming to the library with a rifle.

Library officials closed the building for a bit over a half hour starting around 2 p.m., said Brent Husher, access manager at the Vancouver Community Library.

No one described in the tip showed up, he said, but a few police officers remained nearby for a time after the library got the all-clear.

Vancouver Police Department spokeswoman Kim Kapp said the anonymous call described a homeless man who carried a rifle in his sleeping bag, and said he was coming to the library.

“There was never a threat to the library or employees or anything,” she said, adding the police response came due to concerns about the described man’s mental state.

No one matching who was described ever appeared, she said.