A man is in custody and facing multiple charges after allegedly firing an air gun at police and their vehicles, striking an officer in Nanaimo, B.C. on Sunday.
According to the Mounties, officers responded to reports of a man walking around with a long gun in between Schook and Dover roads around 6 p.m., and found the 35-year-old suspect sitting on a rock.
“The male shot the gun, which bounced off the patrol car and hit the officer in the leg,” reads a Monday news release.
More police arrived and the man hid behind a rock and continued to fire, RCMP said. He shot at one officer, striking the patrol car, and damaged the windshield of another.
He then ran across a sports field in the area and was captured by a police dog named Luthor, police said in the release. The man fought the dog, but was stopped and restrained by the officers, who also seized a black air gun, a tin of BB pellets and a box of carbon dioxide canisters.
The man was charged with three counts of assaulting a peace officer with a weapon, mischief in relation to the damaged police vehicle, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and failure to comply with a release order. He is being held in remand until Tuesday, police said.
“No one comes to work expecting to get shot,” Const. Sherri Wade said in the release.
“We come to work knowing that our training can keep us safe and secure in the knowledge that our fellow officers will have our backs. We feel fortunate that none of the officers involved were seriously injured.”