A Merritt man has pleaded guilty to a string of charges resulting from a standoff with ERT last year.
On May 27, 2020, Merritt RCMP front line officers, along with the South East District Emergency Response Team, executed a search warrant in the 1600 block of Bann Street. Multiple reports had been called in that a local couple had committed assaults, one involving a firearm.
A short standoff resulted in five people, including the main suspect, being taken into custody.
“Our search of the residence yielded a Remington 870 shotgun, a compound bow, replica hand guns, a replica machine gun, gun powder, ammunition, body armour, and hard drugs,
said Merritt RCMP Sgt. Josh Roda. “We were very pleased to take these items out of the hands of people that shouldn’t have them.”
On Dec. 20, 2021, Tyler James Collins pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm, crossbow, prohibited weapon, prohibited device, ammunition, and prohibited ammunition or explosive while prohibited.
Collins received 285 days in jail, probation for twelve months, a lifetime firearms prohibition, and was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of $100.
