It started with a hitchhiker firing what was initially believed to be a handgun on the side of the road in Whistler, and ended with assault charges for a man who had barricaded himself into his Pemberton home.
It was a tense and unusually busy few days for police across the Sea to Sky, who responded to three major calls last week on top of issuing a warning to parents of a potential fight between groups of local youth and from the Lower Mainland.
The first incident involved a Squamish hitchhiker who was reported firing what was thought to be a handgun into the air and at road signs near the entrance to Function Junction on Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 28.
Mounties responded in kind, and a video shot by a passer-by and posted to social media appeared to show an officer with his firearm drawn as the suspect laid facedown on the side of Highway 99.
As it turned out, the weapon was a replica Airsoft gun.
“I think of the three [major calls], that one was probably pretty scary as well, just because when the members came up on the person … the understanding was that he had a gun and he had fired it into the air,” Sea to Sky RCMP Officer-in-Charge Insp. Robert Dykstra told Pique.
Remarkably, it wasn’t the only weapons-related incident for police in the corridor that day. As first reported by The Squamish Chief, a man was arrested in Squamish after he was seen chasing a young boy with what was first reported as an AR-15 rifle in the area of Diamond Head Road, which was closed off for much of the afternoon. Law enforcement had the situation contained by the evening, with the man surrounded in a home, as residents of the area were told to stay indoors.
Again, the weapon turned out to be a replica; this time, an Airsoft rifle, noted Dykstra.
The tense call and subsequent arrest drew on resources from Whistler, with local officers rushing to the neighbouring community to assist.
“Hopefully we don’t see a lot of those incidents going forward in the future, but we are definitely thinking about them. It’s something that we’ve talked about,” Dykstra said. “I know from my members’ perspective, we are further educating and re-educating ourselves in our critical response.”
Then, on Friday, Oct. 1, Whistler RCMP warned of a potential fight—and threatened stabbing—planned for sometime over the weekend at an undisclosed location, between groups of youth from the Lower Mainland and the Sea to Sky. Police issued a release advising the community of increased patrols and urging parents to have an open conversation with their children to “ensure they stay safe this weekend.” Fortunately, the fight didn’t come to pass.
According to Dykstra, the threats allegedly stemmed from an earlier altercation at a Vancouver mall, and local detachments communicated with parents of individuals “who could be involved or targeted, just to let them know what was going on,” he said.
Pique heard from several local parents who were distressed by the warning—which originated with a tweet before Whistler RCMP issued a press release early Friday evening—and specifically the lack of information included.
According to Dykstra, investigators were working with limited information themselves, and wanted to ensure families were aware of the developing situation.
“Because it was so close to when these things were supposed to take place, we felt it was absolutely essential to get the information out there so parents could be aware,” he said, noting that police continue to investigate. “I can definitely see how seeing that would be distressing, but the other part of that would be parents seeing that and being aware that it could be distressing, [motivating them] to have conversations with their own children.”
Then, on Saturday, Oct. 2, a Pemberton man was arrested on a number of charges, including assault and assault with a weapon, following what police called “a family dispute” at an Underhill Lane home.
That morning, Pemberton RCMP was called to the home and, upon arriving at the scene, located a victim outside. Officers also spoke with the suspect, who was on the roof of the home, and experiencing “a degree of what we believe to be a mental-health issue,” Dykstra said, before the man climbed back into the residence.
At around 1:30 p.m., police said the man was safely taken into custody, shortly after a fire had broken out in the residence that was ultimately extinguished by the local fire department.
“This is one of the issues when we talk about mental health: you never know where people are at,” noted Dykstra. “So mental health continues to be a big issue that we have to continue to educate ourselves about and have to be prepared to manage."
