Police nab Cup riot suspect
After long hunt, Vancouver cops get ‘No. 1’ suspect
The Vancouver police say they’ve finally got their man. After a cross-country hunt, police arrested their “most elusive” suspect from last year’s Stanley Cup riot, after he was found working at a Saskatchewan potash mine.
Jonathan Stephen Mahoney is the 15th and final suspect accused of assaulting Good Samaritan Robert MacKay as he attempted to stop rioters and looters.
His image was the first posted on a website used to identify alleged rioters.
Clad in Canucks garb, the suspect was labelled by the Integrated Riot Investigation Team as IRIT No. 1.
Mahoney, 24, of Conception Harbour, N.L., faces charges of participating in a riot, assault, assault with a weapon, as well as mischief.
On Wednesday — after a search involving officers in Manitoba, Newfoundland, and Saskatchewan — Mahoney finally arrived back in B.C. to face justice.
“We are extremely happy,” said Insp. Laurence Rankin, IRIT’s commander. “Ultimately, it was the public that went to the website and were able to identify the suspect.”
He was working in construction in B.C. at the time of the riot.
Once Mahoney was identified, police tracked him from Manitoba to his home province and finally to Lanigan, Sask., where he was arrested at work.