A meandering trail of public complaints has led to numerous charges being recommended against a 23-year-old Langford man.
On Sept. 24, a complaint of impaired driving was called in at 8:24 a.m., after a man left a Langford apartment in a black BMW car. Police say the driver told the complainant he had been drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana all night.
During the search for the car, police received another report at 9:15 a.m. of a man ransacking a home on Liberty Drive in Metchosin. The man, who police later determined matched the description from the first complaint, reportedly left the home and assaulted another man who was walking along the road. The assault victim told police the man said he was en route to kill someone.
West Shore RCMP received a tip at 11:26 a.m. from a caller who stated that the same suspect planned to drive to Nanaimo to do harm to another person. The local detachment immediately shared the information with Nanaimo RCMP, which minutes earlier received an erratic driving complaint about a black BMW matching the description provided by West Shore RCMP.
The man was ultimately located and taken into custody by Nanaimo RCMP and was due to appear in court there today (Sept. 25).
"When you have a situation like this and you get multiple pieces of information about one individual and have someone that states he was enroute to kill someone and driving dangerously and possibly impaired, that is a package of information we want to deal with quickly," said West Shore RCMP Cpl. Kathy Rochlitz.
"We were happy when this individual was taken into custody, for the safety of everyone involved."
Police are recommending charges of uttering threats, mischief and assault against the man.
Rochlitz voiced thanks to the public for the timely phone calls.
"What makes our job easier was because we had people in the public share information with us and our CRD partners, as well as Nanaimo, which helped locate him."
alim@goldstreamgazette.com