Man facing dozens of charges after gun complaints

A 32-year-old Regina man faces 35 charges after police responded to a pair of serious firearms offences on the weekend.

Regina police say officers were sent shortly before 3 a.m. on Saturday to a business in the 4100 block of 5th Avenue for a report of a firearms offence.

Police found a vehicle with a flat rear tire and two shell casings nearby, both empty.

Two complainants, a man and a woman, told police a male had approached them, pointed a gun at them, then shot at the vehicle tire before firing a second shot into the air. They said the gunman then took a cellphone from inside the car.

Officers got a description of the suspect, who by then had left the area, and his name. Police learned that numerous outstanding warrants were out for the man.

Officers searched unsuccessfully for him through the day and overnight.

Then on Sunday, at about 12:40 a.m., police were called to the area of 11th Avenue and Rose Street after a report of a man with a shotgun.

Police were told the man had got into the vehicle of a female acquaintance and made threats to her life and that of a male acquaintance, who wasn’t there. The suspect then allegedly fled in a cab.

The suspect was identified as the man named in the previous night’s incident.

A canine team found a shotgun, believed to be the one used in the incidents, in an alley off the 1800 block of Osler Street.

At about 7:30 a.m. Sunday, police set up a perimeter around a home on the 2200 block of Osler and made numerous attempts to contact the occupants. In the meantime, residents and the public were advised to stay inside or avoid the area.

The situation continued for a number of hours, and came to involve members of SWAT, crisis negotiators, patrol officers and the canine section.

Just after 11:40 a.m., a male and female emerged from the house and were taken into custody without further incident. The female was released without charges when further investigation determined she was not involved in the offences.

The man was held in custody for court on Monday, where he was to face an array of charges, including possession of a firearm obtained by crime, possession of a prohibited weapon with ammunition, careless storage of a firearm, use of a firearm in an indictable offence, pointing a firearm, robbery using a prohibited weapon, assault with a weapon, discharging a firearm in a reckless manner, uttering threats, possession of a firearm and ammunition contrary to a prohibition order against him, and a range of breaches of court-imposed conditions, among other charges.

The man has faced gun charges in the past.