The U.S.-Canada border crossing at the Peace Arch in Blaine has been at least partially reopened after it was closed late this afternoon because of a warning that an armed and dangerous person might be headed there. Faith St. John, a spokeswoman for the Canada Border Services Agency, says the crossing was closed about 4:30 p.m. after Canadian authorities were notified by U.S. officials that an "armed and dangerous" man might be headed there from the U.S. side. At that point, an undetermined number of unarmed Canadian border agents left their posts at both the Peace Arch and Pacific Highway crossings, as they are allowed to do if they perceive a threat of imminent danger.
St. John says managers and RCMP officers were called in, and at least some lanes were reopened by 6:30 or 7:30 p.m. A spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, Mike Milne, says the Peace Arch crossing is "sporadically" open in both directions, and the Pacific Highway crossing, about one mile east of the Peace Arch, is also open in both directions. Milne says he "cannot confirm or deny" reports that officials are looking for a possibly armed person. The Peace Arch crossing on Interstate 5 is about 100 miles north of Seattle. The closure comes two-and-a-half weeks after the border was closed on Jan. 24 because of an incident in which police chased two men to the Peace Arch crossing from the U.S. side and shot and wounded one of them. The two men had been sought in a homicide case in California, and were arrested. In that case, several Canadian border agents left their posts because of what they perceived as imminent danger. A week before that, the border was closed because of a man acting erratically while heading into Canada. Several guns were found in his car, but officials said they believed the man was mentally disturbed rather than dangerous. The Pacific Highway crossing also remained open in both of those incidents.
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