Mounties have arrested and charged a second suspect in Ontario in connection to the attempted murder of a Pine Lake-area man last June – a shooting incident police say was connected to organized crime.
On Oct. 8, RCMP said a British Columbia man was escorted back to Alberta from Thunder Bay, Ont. earlier this month and charged in connection to the June 2 shooting of a 31-year-old man at a rural location near Pine Lake. RCMP said last June the shooting victim was seriously wounded but had recovered. All parties involved in the shooting were known to each other, said RCMP.
Innisfail RCMP said in August the rural location was a suspected “chop shop”, an illegal enterprise where stolen automobiles are stripped of their parts and resold. During their probe at the Pine Lake acreage, local Mounties recovered five stolen vehicles and a loaded .22-calibre rifle with a homemade silencer.
Almost three weeks after the June shooting, RCMP arrested and charged Cory Lavallee of Pine Lake with attempted murder and weapons offences.
And this month Mounties charged a second shooting suspect -- Garner Roland Belcourt, 26, of Dawson Creek, B.C., who is facing charges of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
“We do believe that the shooting that happened in Innisfail is associated with organized crime,” said Sgt. Simon Pillay of the RCMP Southern Alberta Serious Crimes Branch.
He said the accused and several other associates, who police considered “persons of interest” in their investigation, fled Alberta for Thunder Bay shortly after the shooting.
On June 8, Thunder Bay Police arrested them after patrol officers stopped a Jeep Liberty with Alberta plates for having no rear taillights.
Thunder Bay police said their investigation revealed the vehicle was flagged as “seizure” by Alberta RCMP in conjunction with an attempted homicide investigation.
The three male occupants of the vehicle were placed under investigative detention, said Thunder Bay Police. A search of the individuals resulted in marijuana being located and two of the males being arrested on drug- related charges. Police said a loaded handgun was later located in the vehicle.
Belcourt was charged with numerous offences related to his arrest in Thunder Bay, including several weapons charges, as well as offences for possessing and trafficking marijuana.
“We continued on with our (attempted murder) investigation, and when we got to the point to arrest and lay charges, we went out to Thunder Bay and took him out of jail on a judge's order,” said Pillay.
Belcourt is now in custody and is scheduled to appear in Calgary provincial court today for election and plea.
