One man is in police custody following a car-jacking incident on Monday morning.
At approximately 8:00 a.m., the Kelowna RCMP responded to a crash at the corner of Glenmore Road and Snowsell Road. When officers arrived on scene they learned that a male suspect driving a truck had allegedly caused a collision involving two other vehicles, a Honda CRV and a Hyundai Sante Fe.
After the collision, the male suspect attempted to steal a Subaru by assaulting the driver and discharging a firearm. The suspect then stole a pick-up truck and fled the area. A female the motorist involved the collision received serious but non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to hospital by EHS.
Shortly before 10:50 a.m., officers pulled the stolen truck and suspect driver on Grizzly Road in West Kelowna. The suspect ran from his vehicle to Highway 97 where he attempted to car-jack another vehicle before he was arrested.
The suspect, a 33-yar-old man, was transported to hospital and treated for minor injuries he sustained during the collision. He is currently in police custody and could possibly be facing charges related to his arrest. As a result of this investigation, officers seized three firearms from the suspect.
The investigation is ongoing.
Investigators believe there may be additional vehicles that were damaged as a result of the collision on Glenmore Road. If your vehicle sustained damage as a result of this collision, please contact the Kelowna RCMP to file a report if you have not already done so.
North Glenmore Elementary School was locked down briefly this morning due to a nearby traffic incident.
Police are searching for a driver who apparently fled the scene aftering hitting two vehicles at the corner of Glenmore Rd. N and Snowsell St. N.
Students were taken inside upon arrival, on the recommendation of RCMP, but they have since returned to their normal routines.
One man named Kai Merkle was driving to work when he was hit.
"[The suspect] hit my car and then hit the cars behind me. I went out to help and at that point he was tryin to get away and he stole another car, my buddy Tom's car. Tom saw him stealing his car so we went back and we were wrestling with him and he shot at us so I grabbed his gun, shot it in the air but it didn't work because it was jammed. So, I took it, smashed it, took the magazine out and then I went to re-wrestle with him."
"He saw us, took pepper spray and sprayed us in the face, sprayed the other guy and then stole another car."
Merkle says the female driver of the red van was taken away in an ambulance.
The investigation is ongoing and we are waiting for confirmation from police.
The suspect allegedly still at large.