One man is facing several firearms charges after Squamish RCMP seized 19 firearms and 8,000 rounds of ammunition from him last year.
In an update to the council about significant investigations of 2023, Sgt. Gareth Bradley from Sea to Sky RCMP said police seized 19 firearms from one man, which included 11 restricted firearms, one prohibited firearm and seven non-restricted firearms. He was also found with 8,000 rounds of ammunition as well as body armour. Bradley said eight firearms offences have been laid, and the matter is now in court.
Sign up for local news alerts from Squamish Reporter
In another incident, Sgt. Bradley said a police officer patrolling the community was also able to locate an individual who had a loaded shotgun in their backpack while they were in a public place in Downtown Squamish. “The suspect was taken into custody, the firearm was seized, charges were laid, and the matter is now before the courts,” he said.
Charges were also approved on a hit-and-run investigation, where two women waiting for a bus on Cleveland Avenue were hit by an impaired driver in 2022. While one of them was seriously injured, a woman visiting from India succumbed to her injuries in the fatal hit-and-run.
Bradley said the lengthy investigation lasted from September 2022 to November 2023, and included crime scene and DNA analysis and several interviews with witnesses and suspects. “Ultimately, the general investigation section within the detachment went above and beyond to reach a point where the Crown approved formal charges,” Bradley said.
Sign up for local news alerts from Squamish Reporter
The suspect was arrested and released, and the matter is before the courts. “This was a significant investigation that took hundreds of hours to get to a point where Crown was willing to go ahead with the charges,” Bradley added.
Larry Murray says
Good charges were made on the bus stop death. Unfortunately, there was no room to try to escape as the chain link fence prevented the ladies to move back from the bus stop. The fence has been repaired, but is now back to the original position. Why not a set back for the fence at that point? This section of Cleveland is very busy and vehicles move rapidly here on most occasions. Why a bus stop so close to a busy street with little escape space?