Update: The RCMP has nabbed a large number of weapons, ammunition and drugs from a home in West Kelowna, a home were there was a seven-year-old child.
Working with the RCMP's Southeast District Emergency Response Team, officers executed a search warrant on a residence in the 2700-block of Windt Road in West Kelowna July 7 seizing several firearms, including rifles and pistols, as well as ammunition, a crossbow, methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine and GHB. They also seized a gang colours vest with the name Kelowna Warriors, a group RCMP Const. Jesse O'Donaghey said identifies itself as a gang and is related to a another gang in Manitoba. He could not name the Manitoba gang.
"This is a significant seizure," said RCMP Const. Jesse O'Donaghey.
According to O'Donaghey, on July 7, the Kelowna RCMP Street Enforcement Unit executed the search warrant at the residence after setting up surveillance on the home.
Police arrested a 32-year-old man and a 37-year-old man, both from West Kelowna, inside the residence without incident.They also questioned a 24-year woman in the residence but she was later released without charge. The seven-year-old child was put into the care of the Ministry of Child and Family Development.
The 32-year-old man, identified by police as Tyson Ashleigh Bone, remains in custody after he was charged with a multitude of offences, including careless storage of a firearm, two counts of possession of a loaded prohibited/restricted firearm with ammunition, possession of stolen property, knowingly possessing a firearm without a licence, possession of a controlled substance, three counts of possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking and breach of an undertaking.
The 37-year-old man was released from custody and is expected to appear in court Oct. 13 to face drug and firearms-related charges, said O'Donaghey.
O'Donaghey said the following was seized in the raid:
• A 12-gauge Maverick Mossberg 88 pump action shotgun with a pistol grip and extended magazine;
• A SKS P10 semi-automatic rifle;
• A 30/30 Marlin lever action rifle;
• A .308 Norinco M14 semi-automatic rifle;
• A .22 cal Ruger 10 semi-automatic rifle;
• A .45 cal Colt M1911A1 semi-automatic pistol:
• A .45 cal Smith & Wesson revolver;
• A .22 cal Bersa Model 644 semi-automatic pistol;
• 26 grams of suspected Methamphetamine;
• 20 grams of suspected Marihuana;
• 6 grams of suspected Cocaine;
• A crossbow;
• Various firearms magazines and other ammunition;
• Kelowna Warriors three-piece "colours" vest.
One of the rifles has been identified as a weapon stolen in Prince George in 2009, said police.
The weapons seizure is the largest shown to the public by the Kelowna RCMP in two years and O'Donaghey said it was particularly troubling because at least one of the weapons was loaded and a child was in the home.
Police would not give details as to how it learned of the arms cache in the West Kelowna residence but O'Donaghey pegged the value of the arms seized at over $10,000.
He said none of the weapons seized were illegal to possess, as long as the proper permits were held for each weapon. But in this case, he said, the people apprehended did not have permits for the weapons.
(An incorrect version of this story originally appeared here. The story above is the corrected version.)
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Original story: Kelowna RCMP showed off a large cash of weapons, ammunition and drugs Wednesday, all seized in a raid on a West Kelowna home July 7.
The police say while all the weapons seized —including rifles, pistols and a cross bow, are legal to possess, they require proper permits, none of which the two men arrested at the scene possessed.
A 32-year old West Kelowna man was arrested and remains in custody having been charged with a multitude of weapons-rleated and drug-related charges.
Taken into custody with him, and later released, was a 37-year-old West Kelowna man.
A 24-year-old West Kelowna woman was questioned at the residence in the 2700-block of Windt Road and later released without charge.
A seven-year-old child in the house at the time was taken into custody of the Ministry of Child and Family Development.
(more to come)