RCMP descend on York Landing, Manitoba after B.C. murder suspects potentially spotted by volunteer patrol

YORK LANDING, Mb. (NEWS 1130) — A small team of unpaid volunteers are responsible for alerting the RCMP to Sunday’s potential sighting of two murder suspects from B.C. in York Landing Manitoba.

“They spotted two men who seemed to be scavenging food out of the dump,” says James Favel, executive director of the Bear Clan Patrol. “They recognized some of the clothing that was being worn and they immediately called RCMP and let them know they had a potential sighting and the town went into lockdown.”

The sighting happened at 4:15 p.m. Sunday.

“They saw our guys and they bolted across the road over to the lagoon and then kind of disappeared behind the tree line,” Favel says.

The community is not policed by the RCMP and isn’t patrolled by band constables. After a request for Grand Chief Arlen Dumas, the Bear Clan Patrol sent a team of three to York Landing Saturday morning,

“They wanted somebody up there who could help, just be present in the community and reassure the community that somebody’s watching,” Favel says.

The Winnipeg-based group was formed “as a result of the ongoing need to assume our traditional responsibility to provide security to our Aboriginal community.”

Mounties have since descended on a the community, which is southwest of Gillam, Manitoba.

Vancouver Island teens Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, are wanted in connection with three killings in Northern B.C.

Police are warning of a heavy presence and urging people not to post any photos or information about the whereabouts of officers to social media.

Earlier on Sunday afternoon the Chief of the York Factory First Nation warned of the impending search of the community and asked everyone to stay indoors.

“URGENT! RCMP officers & crew will arrive in our community of York Landing, MB very shortly to conduct a search for the 2 suspects at large,” he wrote on Facebook. “We received word that there was a possible sighting around our community landfill moments ago.”

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As of early Sunday afternoon, RCMP had received more than 200 tips and visited 250 homes in the Gillam area, the northern Manitoba town where the pair had last been confirmed to have been seen.

McLeod and Schmegelsky are charged with one count of second degree murder in the death of UBC sessional lecturer Leonard Dyck, and wanted for questioning in the deaths of Australian Lucas Fowler and his American Girlfriend Chynna Deese.

The bodies of Fowler, 23, and Deese, 24, were found July 15 along the Alaska Highway, about 20 kilometres south of Liard Hot Springs. Dyck’s body was found near a burned out camper owned by McLeod and Schmegelsky near Dease Lake. The Vancouver Island men were first reported missing, and later deemed suspects in three killings.

Mounties are searching for the two men in cottages, cabins, waterways, and along the rail lines with the help of the Canadian Armed Forces that are providing support from the air.