The neighbour of a B.C. family forced out of their home in a mistaken armed RCMP raid during Thanksgiving dinner said the police took appropriate action based on the home's violent history.

Caerau McNabb and her mother, stepfather and brother, were ordered out of their Port Coquitlam home at gunpoint Saturday afternoon after police received a tip a woman was being held in the basement suite of the home.

Her family, including her 60-year-old mother, was ordered by armed officers to lay on the wet ground for up to a half hour before police determined the tip was false.

Watching from his home across the road, neighbour Rick Bonneville told CTV News he was shocked to see police with guns hiding behind cars outside.

"And a big shotgun and people lying on the street and, you know, a gun on them," he said.

But Bonneville said he wasn't surprised the police weren't taking any chances, saying there had been armed incidents at the home before McNabb's family moved in this summer.

"With the history of that house having been subject to a drive-by shooting previously with previous tenants I guess it flagged a response," he said.

The RCMP say officers responded accordingly to a call from a woman who was told by a friend of her daughter the she was being held against her will and threatened with a gun in the home.

"It might have been a misunderstanding from the complainant but at that time we didn't know that so we had to ensure because the allegations had a gun involved we took all precautions to ensure public safety as well as the safety of the family," said Cpl. Bert Paquet.

A statement released by RCMP Tuesday said its follow-up investigation revealed the incident had been initiated because of a hoax.

"A friend of the alleged victim made up the entire story and passed it on to the victim's mother who, understandably, immediately called the police to report that her daughter was being forcibly confined at gunpoint," Paquet said.

Police said after repeated attempts to contact the girl on her cell phone failed, officers arrested three people from the basement suite of the home. They were later released.

Cpl. Paquet said police apologized to the family after they realized the mistake.

"The rationale for the police response they had witnessed and been subjected to was fully explained at the time of their release and a full apology for the stress and inconvenience of the incident was offered."

McNabb said the incident was humiliating and traumatizing for her family, most of all her mother.

"When she finally got down she burst into tears, half in pain, half out of embarrassment," she said.

"I tried to comfort her, at which point I was told I had a gun pointed at my head and to shut up and stop speaking."

McNabb said she's planning on filing a complaint with the B.C. Mounties.

"You turn on the news every night and you hear about their mistakes. Obviously what they consider reasonable force needs to be re-evaluated."

With files from CTV British Columbia's Brent Shearer and Sarah Galashan