A 38-year-old man has now been charged with attempted murder in connection with a string of seemingly random shootings from B.C.'s Northern Interior all the way to the Lower Mainland.
RCMP announced Wednesday that Peter Anthony Kampos, an Ontario native, remains in custody.
The spree started up north Friday night when someone allegedly began opening fire at multiple semi-trucks, and continued for a period of 14 hours. Investigators have received 22 reports of commercial trucks believe to have been shot, and at least one passenger vehicle was also targeted, for no apparent reason.
“It certainly appeared to be random at the time,” RCMP Staff Sgt. Annie Linteau told CTV News.
The shootings were reported to police from several communities located along Highway 16 and Highway 97, including Houston, Burns Lake, Vanderhoof, Prince George, Quesnel and Williams Lake.
Fortunately, no one was hurt in any of those incidents. On Saturday, however, a 39-year-old man was shot near a forestry road in Chilliwack, a roughly 1,000-kilometre drive from Houston.
A suspect was located and arrested the same day, and on Monday the RCMP asked anyone who might have been targeted during the spree to come forward and help with the investigation.
“It’s possible there are additional [people] that were impacted,” said Linteau, who couldn’t recall a similar incident happening in the province.
“Certainly this is very concerning to us.”
Investigators are now trying to track Kampos' movements before March 24, and possible motivations.
The suspect is described as a blue 2009 Dodge Caliber with Ontario licence plate CAVM918. Anyone who had a troubling encounter with the vehicle is asked to contact their local police detachment.
