The Saskatoon Police Service’s Serious Assault Unit is continuing to investigate an incident, in which a stolen vehicle ended up on its side in a ditch off Circle Drive near Valley Road and resulted in multiple vehicles damaged by bullets on Wednesday morning. Charges are still being determined as a 32-year-old suspect is in custody. He was transported to hospital for treatment of injuries consistent with a dog bite.
The incident began at about 6:40 a.m. Wednesday when the suspect assaulted a taxi operator and stole their vehicle – then struck a convenience store in the 1500 block of 22nd Street. He entered the store, stole an undisclosed amount of cash and deployed bear spray before fleeing on foot. Then, at 7:53 a.m., after riding a bicycle to the south side of the city, the suspect stole a private company’s vehicle in the area of Wiggins Avenue and Cascade Street. When officers located the vehicle, the driver refused to stop. At various different points of evading police, the suspect successfully struck two police vehicles, one more significantly damaged than the other. As the incident continued, two S-P-S members discharged their service-issued firearm. As the suspect vehicle exited southbound off Circle Drive onto the Valley Road off ramp, it was intentionally struck by a police vehicle and immobilized. The suspect was taken out of the vehicle, but resisted, resulting in the canine unit being deployed and was taken into custody shortly after 8:30 a.m. The suspect is believed to not be seriously injured.
Kelsie Fraser is the Spokesperson for the Saskatoon Police Service and says even though it was a short period of time, a lot of ground was covered. “I don’t know the direct path of travel but I can tell you that this suspect drove dangerously through the downtown, through residential neighbourhoods, through school zones at a very busy time of day where there’s not only motoring public, but there are pedestrians, and there are cyclists so we are very thankful that this turned out the way it did, and that there aren’t injuries reported or associated with that-either civilian or police officer.”
The number of civilian vehicles damaged from this incident and the number of rounds fired by police is not known at this time, but more information will become available as the investigation continues.
The S-P-S says the suspect is not related to the wanted escaped inmate. Warman RCMP were asking for the public’s help to report sightings of escaped inmate. Michael Landry. He was part of a crew doing work in the Highway #11 area, north of Saskatoon who stole a van and fled around 1:20 p.m. on Tuesday.
