Two suspects allegedly connected to what police called a violent residential robbery in Salmon Arm, B.C., were apprehended in Princeton.
And lending the RCMP an arresting helping hand was what police called “group of residents.”
According to the RCMP, a Princeton resident contacted police on Thursday afternoon, shortly after 2 p.m., about a suspicious man who he believed was casing the area.
Police said the resident of Blackmine Road followed the suspicious man, “who met up with a second man, and the pair were surrounded by a group of local residents when front-line officers arrived on scene.”
The two were taken into custody without incident, say police, adding the two were later identified as suspects in the Salmon Arm home robbery
“Front-line officers performed checks of nearby homes along Blackmine Road and located a residence that showed signs of forced entry and believed it to be the scene of a break and enter,” said Cpl. Jesse O’Donaghey.
RCMP identified the two suspects as a 46-year-old Nanaimo man and a 44-year-old Kelowna man, and that both are currently in custody.
“Each face a number of potential criminal charges pending the conclusion of investigations in both Salmon Arm and Princeton,” said police.
In the Salmon Arm robbery, police say two suspects forced their way into a home along the 1200 block of 30th Street SW, just after 8 a.m., on June 29th.
“Once inside the suspects searched the house and allegedly took cash, debit bank cards, a lap top computer, a tablet and keys to the homeowner’s red Ford Taurus,” Staff Sgt. Scott West said on Monday.
“The residents provided access pin codes to the armed suspects after being threatened.”
Police say the two residents were bound, but managed to free themselves after the suspects left, then fled to a neighbouring home where they called for help.
If you have any information regarding the two suspects, you are asked to call the Princeton RCMP at 250-295-6911 or the Salmon Arm RCMP at 250-832-6044.