Two RCMP vehicles destroyed by fire after violent day in Rosthern

Three vehicles, including two belonging to RCMP, were destroyed by fire in rural Rosthern on Sept. 11 in a convoluted series of events that ended in six arrests.

RCMP said in a news release on Sept. 17 that a farmer’s field was also damaged in the blaze, and events began to unfold in the early morning when Rosthern RCMP received a report of an assault and a firearm pointed at a person at a home on Beardy’s & Okemases’ Cree Nation. RCMP said the suspect in that assault also stole a white truck from the home.

Police then got another report around 4 a.m. about a white truck and a firearm discharged on Beardy’s and that the truck had been driven into a home and also another vehicle, causing minor injuries.

RCMP officers were unable to find the white truck but said the suspect had a warrant for arrest related to multiple previous investigations.

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Later the same day, around 3 p.m., police were told about a grey truck stolen by people with a firearm on Mistawasis First Nation, prompting multiple RCMP detachments and to search for both the grey and white trucks.

At 4 p.m., police were told about two trucks — the grey stolen truck and another black truck that had been reported stolen overnight and connected to the wanted suspect — driving erratically on Mistawasis First Nation.

Police said all these incidents were related.

RCMP officers then found the black and grey trucks driving together in a rural Rosthern Detachment area and attempted to stop them, but both drove away.

Police followed the black truck into a field for a short distance before until stalled out and arrested a man and woman, but the suspect wanted from the earlier incidents ran away.

During the arrests, the black truck caught on fire in the dry field, and the blaze then spread to two RCMP vehicles, and all three were destroyed. The fire department was called and no one was injured in the fire.

The wanted man was found and arrested by with the help of a police dog shortly after and treated for minor injuries.

A tire deflation device was used  to stop the grey truck in the Rosthern Detachment area after it got stuck in a drainage ditch and the lone occupant was arrested.

Police said a man and woman found walking on a grid road a short distance away were also arrested but not before a dog was used to catch the man who ran away.

One person was released without charges, police said.

The wanted man, 26, and four other people from Beardy’s & Okemasis First Nation — aged 20, 29, 30 and 34 — were all charged with robbery with a firearm, possession of stolen property failing to stop, and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.

The wanted man was also charged with uttering threats, break and enter, pointing a firearm, two counts of assault, and careless use of a firearm

All were scheduled to appear in Rosthern Provincial Court on Sept. 17, and police said the investigation is ongoing.

Read more

• RCMP investigating after La Ronge man found with serious injuries
• Yorkton RCMP hunting for one man after serious assault
• 26-year-old Sask. man charged with second-degree murder