A Kamloops man was arrested at gun-point last week after police say he held up a North Thompson gas station armed with a sawed-off shotgun.
At about 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 3, a man wearing a ski mask and swimming goggles walked into the Barriere Esso station armed with a sawed-off shotgun and demanded cash.
“The gas station attendant complied with the request for the till content when threatened by the suspect,” said RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk.
The robber then ordered the male clerk to turn on a fuel pump and fill his car, along with a number of gas cans.
“The attendant was not injured,” Moskaluk said.
The vehicle involved was a blue 1989 Ford Escort that had been reported stolen in Kamloops earlier that day.
It was reported as last seen travelling south on the Yellowhead Highway toward Kamloops, and police quickly began heading up the Yellowhead Highway in the hopes of intercepting the perpetrator.
They didn’t cross paths. But, three hours later, just before midnight, a diligent uniformed RCMP officer with Kamloops Rural Detachment spotted and stopped the car on Puett Ranch Road in the Rayleigh area. As a result of the stop the suspect was taken into custody without incident, in what police called a “high-risk takedown”.
RCMP are expected to recommend charges of robbery, pointing a firearm and robbery with disguise.
The suspect, an 18-year-old Kamloops man, is not known to police.
His name had not been made public as of press time last week.
