A man has been charged with the attempted murder of five RCMP officers after a weekend shootout that left an adult male suspect and an 11-year-old child with injuries.
According to court records, Gerald Hartley Cooper is scheduled to appear in provincial court in Kamloops, B.C., on Wednesday for a bail hearing on five counts of attempted murder and one count of failing to stop a vehicle while being pursued by police.
The charges follow a vehicle pursuit and shootout in Merritt, B.C., that spanned nearly two hours on Saturday afternoon, when police attempted to stop a Ford F-350 truck with a flatbed trailer that was allegedly associated with a stolen property file, CBC reports.
The suspect vehicle allegedly refused to stop and evaded police. It was later spotted again by police, who used a spike belt to stop the truck before it took off again and finally came to rest, at which point police apprehended the driver.
RCMP say gunfire was exchanged throughout the incident, which is now under investigation by B.C.'s Independent Investigations Office.
