U of A armoured car murder suspect arrested at U.S. border crossing
BORDER OFFICERS, ARMY SWOOP DOWN ON CANADIAN SUSPECT AT LYNDEN, WASH., CROSSING
Accused triple murderer Travis Baumgartner was arrested at gunpoint Saturday trying to cross into Washington state from British Columbia.
Police say the 21-year-old was still driving his blue Ford F150, bearing his mother’s licence plate and had $300,000 in cash with him.
Mike Milne with U.S. Customs and Border Protection said a computerized licenceplate reader scanned the back of Baumgartner’s truck and an armed-and-dangerous alert sounded. Officers approached the truck and took him into custody without a fight.
“A search of the vehicle revealed an excess of over $300,000 in Canadian currency,” Milne told The Canadian Press. “The final number is still to be determined there.”
Milne added no weapons were found on Baumgartner or inside the truck.
An employee of the Duty Free Americas store next to the border crossing at Lynden, Wash., saw several patrol cars with flashing lights about 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
He also noticed army offi- cers and a fire truck pull up to the scene. He did not see Baumgartner.
Baumgartner has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his fellow armoured guards Michelle Shegelski, 26, Brian Ilesic, 35, and Eddie Rejano, 39. He is also charged with attempted murder in the shooting of another guard, Matthew Schuman, who remains in critical condition in hospital.
The four victims and alleged killer were employees of G4S Cash Solutions, an armoured car company where Baumgartner had worked since April. They were shot while delivering money to cash machines at the University of Alberta’s Hub Mall early Friday.
“We’re grateful to the border officials at Lynden, Washington, for their excellent work in arresting a man we believe was armed and extremely dangerous,” Edmonton police superintendent Bob Hassel said in a news release.
Police said the arrest “has brought some level of solace and relief to the G4S family.”
Jayme Stephenson, a former G4s employee who knew matthew Schuman, Eddie Rejano and Baumgartner, said she was ecstatic about the arrest.
“I hope that justice is served when it comes to his sentencing,” she said.
The Alder grove / lynden border crossing is about 22 kilometres southwest of Abbotsford, B.C. and about 1,100 km from Edmonton.
The arrest came just hours after Hassel said Baumgartner was believed to have a significant amount of money, a bulletproof vest from his G4S armoured guard uniform, and, most likely, his G4S-issue handgun.
On Friday, Baumgartner’s mother spoke to her son through police, telling him: “I’m sorry that we had an argument last night and had bad words between us. But I want you to come home and do the right thing. Let’s work this out together.”
Stephenson said she has been left deeply shaken by the violent deaths of her friends and colleagues.
“I’ve taken it really hard to know that I’m home with my children and those people were killed and can’t go home to their family.”
Stephenson described Schuman is a friendly guy, and said Rejano cared deeply for his family. She said she was “sickened” by the fact that she had spoken to Baumgartner during their training, and that he was part of their group.
“We were taught to look after each other and protect ourselves and you’re supposed to have each other’s back in that job. It was all a lie with Travis.”