A woman involved in a shootout incident with police in the Westwold area last December pleaded guilty Wednesday and was sentenced on a lesser charge.
Jennifer Singleton, born in 1981, was initially facing 14 charges including attempted murder after the Dec. 3, 2019, incident that saw two suspects involved in a dynamic police incident that closed Highway 97 for more than six hours and locked down Westwold Elementary School.
On Dec. 8, 2020, Singleton pleaded guilty to one charge of being in a vehicle knowing a prohibited or restricted firearm was in the vehicle contrary to the Criminal Code.
Singleton was sentenced the same day in the Vernon Courts, communications counsel Dan McLaughlin said. She received a conditional discharge with 12 months probation and a 10-year firearm ban.
The other 13 charges were stayed by the Crown.
Around 19 shots fired were heard by nearby residents last December. Eyewitness Trevor Caldwell told the Morning Star he watched a vehicle drive into the farmer’s field behind a church after driving over a spike belt deployed by North Okanagan RCMP.
Then, Caldwell said he heard an estimated 19 shots fired.
“The male occupant left the car heading towards police and stopped about halfway and put his arms in the air and stayed in that position for 15 or 20 minutes before the police approached him,” Caldwell told Black Press Dec. 3, 2019.
That man was Darwyn Allen Curtis Sellars.
Sellars, who was 31 at the time of the incident, is set to return to court Jan. 18, 2021.
“He has indicated he intends to plead guilty at that time,” McLaughlin said.
READ MORE: Two charged with attempted murder in Westwold incident
READ MORE: Eyewitness hears 19 shots fired in Westwold police incident
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