A rumour that accused killer Gabriel Klein was in the custody of the Abbotsford Police Department and then released before a double stabbing on Tuesday is unequivocally false, according to spokesman Const. Ian MacDonald.

The rumour circulating is that Klein entered the Cottage Pavilion care home on Cottage Lane and was behaving erratically.

Police were called and he was placed in the back of a patrol car, but was soon released, the rumour continues.

MacDonald said some versions indicate that Klein was barefoot at the time, which many people have indicated was the state of the assailant in the double stabbing.

But MacDonald said these rumours are false. He said police were called to Cottage Pavilion last Tuesday for reports of an erratically behaving man, but it was not Klein.

The individual, whose identity was confirmed at the scene, was transferred to hospital to be treated for drug ingestion, MacDonald said.

Police began receiving the false reports shortly after Klein’s photo was publicly released by investigators on Wednesday morning.

He said the department made several checks to ensure that Klein had not been in their custody on that day or previously.

This included reviewing their files, checking with senior detectives who had been at the Cottage that day, and speaking with Cottage staff.

All checks confirmed that Klein was not the person in question.

But MacDonald said the rumour is continuing to circulate and grow, with the APD fielding calls and emails from the media and the public about the matter.

As well, he said the assailant in the double stabbing was not barefoot at the time, although some media have continued to report that he was.

Klein has been charged with the second-degree of Letisha Reimer, 13, and the aggravated assault of her 14-year-old friend (who cannot be named due to a publication ban).

The two were stabbed in a random attack at Abbotsford Senior Secondary.