RCMP say weapon in cancelled Lunenburg emergency alert was actually gardening tool

RCMP say a man spotted Wednesday morning in Lunenburg County, N.S., with what was believed to be a rifle was actually carrying a gardening tool.

An emergency alert was issued around 7:30 a.m. AT after the man was spotted in the 3,000 block of Barss Corner Road in Parkdale.

The alert was cancelled about an hour later after a 48-year-old man was arrested.

"After extensive investigation and a search of the man's property, officers determined that no firearm was involved, and the man had been holding a large gardening tool, which from a distance, could have been mistaken for a firearm," RCMP said in a news release issued late Wednesday afternoon.

The man was released without charges.