Bear spray incidents may be related to attempted theft
| News |
By LeRae Haynes
Staff Sergeant Warren Brown stated today that at approximately midnight on Sunday two small groups of teens met purposefully at the 7-11 in Williams Lake to facility the exchange of stolen property. He said that there was a disagreement and a mutual fight broke out between the two groups, with pepper spray the weapon of choice.
“A great effort was made to conceal their activities: they sprayed the windows near the security cameras, adversely affecting the employees and customers. This is horrible for the community at large,” he stated. “This is a group that we have been targeting, and we are still investigating this today. It’s a possibility that the participants at the incident at 7-11 may be involved with the individuals in the recent ATV theft incident: we are looking into the ‘stolen property’ end of things.”
He explained that there are approximately 12 youths who appear to be looking for opportunities for violent engagement. “They are masking themselves in gang paraphernalia, including balaclavas, and arming themselves with bear spray,” he explained.
He said that the proposed ‘dangerous weapon’ City bylaw in the works right now includes bear spray, as well as machetes. “People may disagree with restricting the sale of these items, but I ask people to consider this: does the benefit of selling these items to a relatively small group of individuals out weigh their frequent use in violent incidents?
“We’re seeing incidents now where bear spray is being used more frequently than weekly. This is another example of how a small group of chronic offenders take up 90% of our time.
“We’re currently working with groups like the Youth Safety Committee, the School District, Ministry of Children and Families, Youth Probation and Punky Lake to look at alternate solutions rather than traditional law enforcement.”
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