Cops nab second suspect

A dramatic takedown on a Brocklehurst street ended with the second of three suspects involved in a pair of shotgun robberies in RCMP custody.

Sgt. Scott Wilson said Sunday a 22-year-old Kamloops man faces six proposed robbery and firearms related charges for his alleged involvement in a home invasion in Sahali and robbery of a pizza deliveryman.

But Wilson could provide few details about the arrest, saying more information would be made available today.

Police nabbed the man outside Gary Holland’s Cambridge Crescent home Saturday afternoon. Holland witnessed the arrest when he stepped outside his front door.

“I opened the front door and the cops said ‘close the door,’” Holland said Sunday. “I didn’t know what was going on. I just saw people in my yard with guns.”

Holland said he glimpsed about 10 officers with guns aimed at a man who was face down on the lawn.

He said police also found a shotgun in a backpack the man was carrying. Wilson could not confirm that a weapon was recovered.

Holland said the encounter was upsetting. He had been outside talking to a youth who shovels snow for him. The youth and a friend had just got off at a bus stop and the suspect had been on the bus with them.

Police were following the culprit and decided to make an arrest as the man walked by Holland’s yard. Holland had gone inside to finish his lunch when it happened, he said.

The home invasion and robbery, to which the suspect is linked, occurred within hours of each other Wednesday night. Police were called to the 800 block of Sahali Terrace when suspects wearing masks and armed with a shotgun forced their way into a home and tied up a man with tape.

Police said the culprits were looking for the previous occupants, who recently moved out. The suspects fled with a laptop before the victim could free himself and phone 911.

Investigators believe the suspects then made a phone call to Domino's Pizza in North Kamloops and asked that food be delivered to a home on the Tk'emlups Indian Band.

When the deliveryman arrived at the address, he was assaulted, robbed and bound with tape by three masked men. One of the men had a shotgun.

Wilson said the first suspect was arrested late last week and investigators believe a third accomplice remains at large.

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