A man faces 14 charges in connection to a daylong armed crime spree throughout Central Alberta.
Sylvan Lake RCMP were first made aware of the spree at 7:15 a.m. when they received a report of a stolen car from the Hewlett park area of Sylvan Lake. A black car had been left running outside her residence to warm up and was stolen.
A couple of hours later, police received a report that a male was found in the basement of a rural residence west of Sylvan Lake. The home owner confronted the male intruder and asked him to empty his pockets, suspecting something had been stolen. The male suspect became nervous and attempted to leave the residence. The home owner tried to stop the suspect from fleeing by holding onto the suspect until police arrived.
However, the suspect was able to break free and fled the residence. Police said, the home owner saw the suspect flee in the same black car that was reported stolen.
Police located the car a short distance away from the residence, but it was abandoned. Police Dog Services arrived and tracked a suspect to a nearby farm. According to RCMP, the suspect stole a truck. Shortly thereafter, a call to police said that the truck was quickly abandoned for another truck.
Later in the afternoon, Blackfalds RCMP received a report of a truck being left at the Burnt Lake Stables, near Hwy 596 and Range Road 10. A male had been observed going through a parked vehicle and took $50 that had been it the vehicle. The suspect was last seen running down the highway on foot.
At 2:16 p.m. a residential alarm alerted Blackfalds RCMP to a rural location. On scene, a neighbour advised that he saw a male wearing dark clothing on a black quad with a rifle strapped to his back leaving the residence. The neighbour followed the male on a rural road, but the quad entered a field heading east.
Blackfalds, Innisfail and Innisfail Freeway RCMP all responded to the area, but were unable to locate the quad or the male.
At 4:29 p.m., Blackfalds RCMP received information the quad had been seen driving west on Township Road 374 near Range Road 283. Members spoke to the owner of one rural property, who told them a male on a quad with a firearm had crossed his field to the southeast.
Police made patrols and he was found at another rural property sitting on the quad. The male was arrested and police discovered a shotgun and a rifle.
Tyler Joseph Shaw, 29, of Rocky Mountain House faces three charges of break and enter, one charge of stolen property, four charges of theft and five weapons related charges.
He will appear in Red Deer provincial court on Monday.