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Review Vol.17
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Number 31
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Thursday, July 30, 2015
Serving the communities of Keremeos, Cawston, Okanagan Falls and Kaleden
Violent fugitive caught in Cawston orchard Tara Bowie Review Staff
A two-day manhunt that tore through the South Okanagan came to a dramatic conclusion in a Cawston orchard. At 10:40 a.m. Thursday, July 23 police apprehended Ronald Arthur Teneycke at Taylor Farms on Barcello Road.
Ronald Arthur Teneycke
Teneycke appeared in court Friday and now faces charges of robbery and using an imitation firearm to commit an indictable offence. The prolific offender is also facing one count of being unlawfully at large and three counts of breaching probation. RCMP issued a warning Wednesday that Teneycke was considered armed and extremely dangerous and was in the Oliver area. On Thursday morning an RCMP officer involved in the search spotted a truck near Cawston that looked like the one Teneycke had allegedly stolen a day earlier after a violent attack. The officer approached and identified Teneycke alone in the vehicle. Teneycke attempted to flee heading toward Fairview-Cawston Road. Orchardist Bryan Dyck was in the orchard at the time of the arrest. As he pruned in the orchard he watched helicopters search the area from the air most of the morning and thought it most likely had to do with Teneycke.
When he saw the helicopters start to come down he decided to head in that direction. Dyck said RCMP t-boned a truck pushing it into the orchard he believes Teneycke was in and the suspect attempted to flee. He heard a series of gun shots. As he came out of an orchard row, he came face-to-face with a police officer. “He told me I better get out of there. Here I am with pruning shears in my hands and he’s telling me to get out of there and I’m hearing shots,” he said. “I’d say I was about 20-feet from them. I’m not sure who was shooting at who.” RCMP Cpl. Dave Tyreman was not able to confirm or deny that shots had been fired from a real or imitation gun or if a collision had occurred during the pursuit during a phone interview Monday. He did say in an email to Black Press, “It is believed no one was injured in the arrest, but cannot be confirmed at this time.” Tyreman said the case is still under investigation and is before courts so details are not expected to be released. Residents in the area were not evacuated while police apprehended Teneycke, but no one could get into the area where the arrest took place. Although Barcello Road was open to traffic, Lowe Drive was closed and police were positioned at cross roads and guarded a portion of the orchard. Many residents in the Cawston area suspected Teneycke was close by when they found Fairview Road between Cawston and Oliver closed last Wednesday afternoon. Sally Taylor, the orchard owner was at home a short distance away at the time of the dramatic arrest. “I didn’t really know anything about it. I was out cutting the grass on the riding lawn mower and I couldn’t hear the helicopters. I did know he was in the area so I asked one of the guys just to check the
Mark Brett
A search for Teneycke took RCMP throughout the South Okanagan before coming to an end in an orchard in Cawston.
garden shed for me. I was scared he might be in there,” she said while taking a break from cutting the lawn. Her son had called her from his job at the packing house nearby and told her to get in the house and lock the doors because Teneycke was
definitely in the area. It wasn’t long after, she received the call from Dyck, her son-in-law telling her shots were fired in the orchard and police had arrested someone. She’s lived in the area for more than 35 years.
“I don’t remember anything like this happening here before. It’s pretty crazy for little old Cawston,” she said. Earlier in July a warrant was put out for Teneycke’s arrest after he failed to show up for his interContinued on page 12
RCMP arrested Teneyecke in an orchard on Barcello Road Thursday, July 23.
Tara Bowie