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UPDATE: Man arrested after RCMP swarm two Kamloops motels

Police are on scene of the Acadian Inn downtown and the Motel 6 in Valleyview
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Kamloops This Week

-Kamloops This Week

UPDATE: 2:20 p.m.

A large police presence at a Columbia Street motel has currently been downgraded after a man was arrested in connection with a robbery that took place on Aug. 3.

About 9 a.m., Monday, Kamloops RCMP observed a man enter a local motel who was known to have a warrant for his arrest. Numerous police officers and the police service dog unit attended the area and set up a perimeter.

Shortly after 11:30 a.m., 25-year-old Tristan Fernandez was taken into custody with the assistance of a police service dog. Fernandez was wanted on a warrant following an investigation into a robbery near the 1300 block of Battle Street.

Fernandez is being held in custody awaiting court.

On Aug. 3, the Lordco auto parts store at 1395 Battle St., east of downtown, was robbed and a van suspected to have been used in the crime was later set ablaze in Riverside Park.

Three people were arrested, then released by the court under various conditions.

As police are still on scene investigating no further information will be released.

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Kamloops Mounties have two motels in Kamloops surrounded, but it is not known if the two incidents are related. Police are at the Acadian Inn downtown, where a wanted man is holed up. In Valleyview, there are officers at the Motel 6 on the East Trans-Canada Highway. Kamloops RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Dana Napier told reporters outside the Acadian Inn at 11:45 a.m. on Monday (Oct. 4) that while police are seeking a wanted man at the downtown motel, she does not know if the Valleyview incident is connected as she had not yet spoken to investigators of that operation.

Multiple police vehicles have responded to the Acadian Motel in the 1300-block of Columbia Street downtown in what appears to be a standoff with someone inside the motel.

Chris Mitra, whose kitchen window overlooks the motel from his home across the street, said police vehicles began showing up at about 9:20 a.m. on Monday.

He said there appeared to be up to 12 police vehicles and officers at the scene with their carbine rifles drawn.

“The inside of the complex, they seem to have a line set up, some sort of standoff situation,” Mitra told KTW. “They’ve evacuated a number of the guests from the motel, as well as everybody from the restaurant,” Mitra said.

Mitra said he has seen officers placing spike belts at the entrances and exits to the motel. He said the front door to the motel’s office appears to have been smashed in.

Mitra said he was cleaning his kitchen when he noticed the first few police vehicles begin arriving, but didn’t hear anything of note leading up to the show of force.

He said police have the 1300-block of Nicola Street cordoned off and are keeping passersby away from the building, but Columbia Street remains open.

Kamloops RCMP has not yet issued a release specifying what they are dealing with at the Acadian Motel, a place at which Mitra said he has noticed police activity on almost a daily basis.

At 10:57 a.m., Kamloops RCMP issued a release, noting officers are at the motel as part of an ongoing criminal investigation.

“Although no danger is expected to the public at this time, residents are asked to please avoid the area while police are on the scene,” the statement reads. “Some traffic may be temporarily rerouted.”

The detachment said more information will be released later.

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