Tactical team board plane in hunt for suspected killers of Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese
The small Canadian town of Gillam was a safe place where people didn’t lock their doors. Now they are sleeping with their guns nearby as heavily armed tactical teams hunt for two teens suspected of killing Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese.
Heavily armed tactical teams have descended on the remote Canadian town of Gillam with assault vehicles, drones, tracker dogs and crisis negotiators as police hunt the two teens suspected of killing three people — including an Australian tourist.
Up to 20 armed Canadian police have also been spotted boarding a light aircraft and flown out of Gillam Airport in a westerly direction with sniper rifle cases and several armoured bulletproof shields.
This comes as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police say they have two “established and corroborated” sightings of Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky in the area earlier this week, near where the pair dumped and torched their latest getaway vehicle.
Schmegelsky, 18, and McLeod, 19, have been charged with second degree murder in the death of university lecturer Leonard Dyck and are suspects in the deaths of Sydney tourist Lucas Fowler and his American girlfriend Chynna Deese.
Schmegelsky and McLeod were originally considered missing persons when their Dodge pick-up was found burning near Dease Lake, in northern British Columbia.
But in a dramatic twist police declared them prime suspects in the murders
Royal Canadian Mounties spent the night combing the area after the teenagers were spotted in the small town of Gillam buying fuel.
A cashier at the Split Lake gas bar, in Manitoba, Mychelle Keeper, told news outlets McLeod bought $20 of fuel and Schmegelsky asked if they could consume alcohol in the community, which is dry.
She said nothing seemed odd about their visit. The pair were acting normal.
But when she saw the updated photos from police she recognised McLeod by his beard and Schmegelsky from the camouflage shirt he was wearing.
Police believe the teens are still in the area and on foot because no other vehicles have been reported stolen that could be linked to them.
They say McLeod and Schmegelsky are likely travelling through the “challenging, vast, dense” terrain of the area.
There is only one road in and out of Gillam and police have set up a checkpoint on the highway to alert locals.
Officials have enlisted resources from across Western Canada to assist in the manhunt and say they have received about 80 tips from the public in the last 48 hours.
Police have been spotted searching land around the town with dogs and a drone, while also conducting rigorous vehicle checks in the area.
There has been activity in Gillam throughout the day with police seen driving at speed around the town.
Some of the forces are said to be concentrating their search 70km northwest of Gillam, near Fox Lake Cree Nation, a reserve for indigenous Indian people.
One local woman told CBC the “community is freaking out because we’re not used to this — nobody locks their door.”
“Everybody in the community is, I guess I wouldn’t say paranoid … nervous, scared,” Mario Catalano, who manages a local fuel service company, told The Star.
“I’ve heard people are sleeping with their guns close.”
Fox Lake Cree Nation Chief Walter Spence has also reportedly said people are organising their own patrols.
If the teenagers did flee into the wilderness, Gillam’s Deputy Mayor John McDonald said they could not have picked a worse time.
“The sandflies came out three days ago and they’re just voracious,” he said. “I’m quite sure they’ll be more than happy to have someone find them.”
“We have sandflies, black flies, mosquitoes, horseflies,” Mr McDonald told CNN. “Let me say if we were parked on a side street and we were having a conversation outside, and you didn’t have any insect repellent on, or any long sleeves — let’s just say that we would cut our conversation short.
“And in the bush,” Mr McDonald said with a laugh, “magnify that by 10-20 times. Forget it.”
Locals say the area is also filled with polar bears and wolves.
Mr McDonald said locals were confused as to why they would end up in Gillam.
“Most of us in Gillam are baffled as to why they would be here. There’s only one road in and one road out,” he said.
Teen murder suspects ‘trained in war’
Lucas and Chynna’s last idyllic days
MURDER SUSPECT’S SICK HOBBIES BEFORE SLAYING
Alan Schmegelsky, the father of Bryer Schmegelsky, said his son bought a black suit from the Walmart where he worked this year, adding: “Now I realise it’s his funeral suit.”
This came after shocking photos showed Schmegelsky has a strong Nazi interest.
On of the photos reveal Bryer wearing army fatigues brandishing a replica machine gun, one known as an ‘Airsoft Rifle’ which fires plastic pellets.
Another, sent from what is believed to be his account used for an online gaming service, shows Nazi memorabilia including a knife with the inscription “blut und ehre” (blood and honour) and a swastika armband.
A third image of Schmegelsky is believed to show him in a black gas mask.
The unidentified gamer he shared the pictures with is also said to have stopped playing with him after he praised Hitler’s Germany.
The friends’ so-called Steam accounts, used for gaming, are said to have been active just one week before they were first reported missing.
FATHERS SAYS TEEN FUGITIVE ON A ‘SUICIDE MISSION’
Mr Schmegelsky’s father said his son is in “very serious pain”.
It comes after his parents’ split in 2005 and his strong interest in video games and YouTube.
“A normal child doesn’t travel across the country killing people. A child in some very serious pain does,” Mr Schmegelsky told Canadian Press.
Mr Schmegelsky said he expects his son will die in some sort of final pursuit with police.
“He’s on a … mission. He wants his pain to end,” he said.
“Basically, he’s going to be dead today or tomorrow. I know that. Rest in peace, Bryer. I love you. I’m so sorry all this had to happen.”
Even if his son is caught, his life will be over, the father said.
“He wants his hurt to end. They’re going to go out in a blaze of glory. Trust me on this.”
A police manhunt Schmegelsky and McLeod is underway in the state of Manitoba where the two were last seen on Monday.
“We continue to ask the public to remain vigilant for Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky, and consider them to be armed and dangerous”, the RCMP said in a statement.
“The two may being using a different vehicle, on foot or even travelling separately. If they are spotted, do not approach, call 9-1-1 or your local police immediately.”
Meanwhile, Kam’s father Keith McLeod issued a statement from his home on Vancouver Island addressed to “the people who truly care.”
He wrote: “I’m sitting at home worrying about my son. Relentless media hounding us for information that we don’t have.
“This is what I do know. Kam is a kind, considerate, caring young man always has been concerned about other people’s feelings.
“As we are trapped in our homes due to media people, we try to wrap our heads around what is happening and hope that Kam will come home to us safely so we can all get to the bottom of this story”.
The teenagers, who went to school together, have travelled thousands of kilometres since they left Port Alberni in central Vancouver Island on the west coast on Friday July 12, looking for work in Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory, north of British Columbia.
That’s the last time Bryer texted his dad — Al Schmegelsky. That text read “me and Kam are going to Alberta today so I won’t have internet for a while. I’ll talk to you when I can.”
Mr Fowler and Ms Deese were found dead three days later on the Alaska Highway 20km south of the Laird Hot Springs.
The grieving Fowler family are in Vancouver awaiting for news about their son’s killer or killers.
Bryer Schmegelsky’s Instagram page had been inundated with messages some of which asked “Did you actually do it Bryer?”.
‘WE ARE TRULY HEARTBROKEN’
This comes as Leonard Dyck’s family issued a statement about their loss.
Mr Dyck’s body was found near Dease Lake about 2km from the teenager’s burnout pick-up truck.
He was killed about 500km away from where Mr Fowler and Ms Deese were shot to death.
Mr Dyck’s family said, “we are truly heartbroken by the sudden and tragic loss of Len. He was a loving husband and father. His death has created unthinkable grief and we are struggling to understand what has happened.”
RCMP are looking for anyone who spoke to Mr Dyck during his travels in Northern B.C.
If you or someone you love is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or BeyondBlue on 1300 224 636. If it is an emergency please call triple-0.
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