Rcmp

Passenger during Westside Road police shootout says he was in charge

LANGUAGE ADVISORY KELOWNA – Michael Ellis, accused ringleader of a 2012 high speed shootout with police, was just doing what he was told. At least that’s what his only defence witness says. Shawn Wysynski, who is also a lifelong friend of Ellis, told Kelowna Supreme Court Justice Ian Josephson that the only reason his friends were...

Westside shooter threatened man and his young son

KELOWNA – The encounter lasted only a few minutes but left a strong impression on Mark Langmead and his 11-year-old son. “It was very disturbing,” he told Justic Ian Josephson in the B.C. Supreme Court trial of accused Westside shooter Michael Ellis Tuesday. “(My son) was very upset. He was extremely quiet and refused to...

UPDATE: Kelowna woman found safe and sound

UPDATE: RCMP say 54-year-old Valerie Fast has been located and she is safe and sound. KELOWNA - RCMP are looking for public assistance to help them find a missing Kelowna woman. Valerie Fast was last seen November 28, according to an RCMP media release. Police, friends and family are very worried about her well-being because...

UPDATE: Name of suspect released in Cherry Avenue homicide; residents react

KAMLOOPS - Police have now filed murder charges against a resident of the 435 Cherry Avenue apartment building after police discovered the body of a 26-year-old woman Tuesday afternoon. Christopher Frank Butler, 41, was charged with second-degree murder around 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. The victim was Deanne Genevieve Wheeler, 26, according to police.  Const. Jason...

UPDATE: Police locate missing Vernon woman

UPDATE: 8:39 a.m. Dec. 31  Vernon RCMP say Brandy Hauser, 30, was located at a residence in Vernon. She had been missing since Dec. 15 and police put out an appeal for tips Dec. 29.  VERNON - Police are on the lookout for a Vernon woman not seen since Dec. 15. A concerned family member...

Stolen hard drive contains 3 years of irreplaceable UBCO research

KELOWNA - A woman didn't just lose her physical property in a recent theft, she lost three years of research for UBC Okanagan and now police are asking the public to help get it back. Mounties were told of the theft in the 1100 block of Research Road at the UBC Okanagan Campus Nov. 28,...

Police investigating break and enter at Savona post office

KAMLOOPS - Investigators from the Kamloops Rural RCMP detachment are following up on an early Sunday morning break in at the Savona post office. Police say it happened around 3:30 a.m. The suspects entered the building through a window and approximately 20 parcels were stolen, according to a RCMP media release. Anyone who may have...

Break-in devastating for SPCA

KAMLOOPS – It isn’t the way staff and volunteers at the Kamloops SPCA wanted to spend Victoria Day, assessing and cleaning up the damage from an overnight break-in. RCMP say they were called to the shelter at 6:30 a.m. to find thieves had smashed in the front door. Sgt. Michael Buxton-Carr says it appears the...

Never leave a pet inside a hot car: SPCA

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The weather is getting hot, and drivers are rolling down their windows, feeling the breeze in their hair as they drive along. But don’t forget, your pets also need to feel the wind in their fur, or at least a cool breeze. Every year, pets are killed from the heat in hot cars. The...

Police hunt for Kelowna bank robbery suspect

KELOWNA - Police need help identifying a suspected robber who was caught on a surveillance camera yesterday shortly before a heist at the Bank of Montreal in the Capri Mall. The lone male suspect entered the Harvey Avenue mall at 3:35 p.m. armed with a knife, according to an RCMP media release. He then secured...

Vehicle fire on Coquihalla

KAMLOOPS – No word from RCMP on the cause of a vehicle fire on the Coquihalla Highway Saturday morning. Traffic was blocked between Kamloops and Merritt at around 9 a.m., as police let the vehicle burn itself out. RCMP haven’t said if anyone was hurt in the blaze. The highway has reopened to traffic with...

Local bus drivers plan moment of silence for murdered passenger

KELOWNA – The moment the funeral for the man stabbed to death on a Kelowna bus last week begins in Vancouver, close to 30 local transit buses will pull to the side of the road for a minute of silence honouring the man who so faithfully used their service over the past two years. Caesar...

Murder victim was a popular employee of Kelowna Flightcraft

KELOWNA - The man killed in what police are calling an unprovoked attack on a city bus last week is being remembered by coworkers as a popular, unique man dedicated to his job. Before he was murdered on a bus on Baron Road last Thursday, Caesar Rosales, 55, was a business systems analyst for Kelowna...

UPDATE: More than a dozen people witnessed murder on Kelowna city bus

BUS PASSANGERS WARY AFTER MURDER KELOWNA – Passengers on the number eight bus in Kelowna are eyeing each other with more suspicion Friday, after a man was murdered in an apparently random knife attack at a stop on Baron Road Thursday night. Taran Mundie, 23, is a UBCO student who takes the bus almost every...