Canada Day Beach Shootout
Photo: Contributed
A Canada Day brawl on a busy Osoyoos beach ended with a man shot.
Osoyoos RCMP detachment commander Sgt. Jason Bayda said at 6:50 p.m., officers received a 911 call to White Sands Beach, a local term for a popular area on the east side of Lake Osoyoos.
“What we know at this point is that there was an altercation between two groups and one person pulled out a gun,” Bayda said.
One person, an unnamed 22-year-old from Maple Ridge, was shot and has non-life threatening injuries.
The suspected shooter is an Oliver man, who Baida said has not yet been taken into custody.
“We haven’t found him yet, but we are working with the Crown attorney and we hope to have a charge later today or tomorrow morning when we will lay out more [news release] naming the suspect and we hope to ask for the public’s assistance to help locate this individual,” Bayda said.
He hopes one of the many witnesses to the crime will come forward, adding that it’s amazing that of the estimated more than 100 people on the beach at the time, only one person called 911.
“We know a lot of people don’t want to get involved in these things, but it was surprising that for something like this to happen, only one person called,” Baida said.
“We know there were witnesses to this event and we hope to speak to anyone who may have witnessed it. We need the public’s help to help us close any small gap there may be in this event and we hope to get a solid Crown Attorney report so we can hold this man accountable and put an end to this event type.”
The Osoyoos RCMP detachment can be reached at (250) 495-7236 or remain anonymous and leave a tip with Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
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