Charges have now been laid in connection to the dangerous persons alert and investigation on Thursday. Two suspects were arrested during the search yesterday near Tobin Lake with help from the Saskatoon Police Service Air Support Unit. RCMP say the two were running along the bank of the Saskatchewan River, about three kilometres from where they were seen entering the bush and were arrested by officers on the ground.
Both 18-year-old Melissa McCallum of La Ronge and 33-year-old Angus Heath of Prince Albert are facing numerous charges including aggravated assault, discharging a firearm with intent, unlawfully causing bodily harm and careless use of a firearm. McCallum was treated by EMS and released into police custody after receiving minor injuries from a collision between the truck they were in earlier in the day and a heavy equipment vehicle.
Two suspects are still at large. They weren’t found overnight in the area of Highway 123, despite extensive police ground and air searches in dense, thick bush with swampland and mossy, boggy terrain. The person who was shot during the vehicle theft which began the dangerous persons alert on Thursday remains in hospital, and no updates will be provided to maintain his privacy.
Residents and businesses between Holbein and past Nipawin up to the Thunder Rapids area, especially along Highway 355/55 are asked to check their video surveillance for any signs of a black Honda CRV with three to four suspects dressed in black with bandanas between October 23rd and the morning of October 24th, driving in and between the Holbein and Thunder Rapids areas.
Around 8:30 Thursday morning, Prince Albert Police responded to a vehicle robbery and shooting north of that city and determined that around 7:30 a man was in a vehicle near White Star Road and was approached by multiple suspects in a black SUV wearing black bandanas or black balaclavas. He was shot and they took his white 2020 Dodge Ram and a cellphone, abandoning the black SUV. The victim didn’t know the suspects. He was found an hour later by a passerby and that’s when police were called.
The suspects were armed with a gun and considered to be dangerous. A dangerous persons alert was issued, initially to a wide area, given the random nature of the incident and not knowing where they were going. A few minutes later the Ram was seen on Highway 123 heading north towards Cumberland House, and then around 10:30, the truck hit a heavy equipment vehicle in the Thunder Rapids area on Highway 123. A dangerous persons alert was issued for that area. Two suspects were located in the Tobin Lake area late afternoon and the alert was cancelled.
