An afternoon of biking with friends in the Boitanio Park skateboard park ended in an armed robbery over a BMX Monday afternoon.
A local teen who was celebrating his 14th birthday was robbed of his bike by gunpoint at about 4:30 p.m. on what was by all accounts a perfect spring-like day in the lakecity in which there was no school for students in SD 27.
“I hear we have more police than other small towns but that doesn’t seem to be helping,” said the teen’s father, who spoke with the Tribune about the latest violent incident to occur in Williams Lake.
“My son's OK. I think I am the one more traumatized right now. I have been worried that something like this might happen because I know what goes on in the park but you can’t just set your kid in the house and tell him he can’t go anywhere.”
The dad said his son described the suspects as three First Nations men in their early twenties who approached the teen in the skateboard park after his friends were further away in the park.
He said the suspects asked him what he was staring at, then pulled out a handgun, pointed it at him and said, “I’m taking your bike.”
The dad said his son handed over the bike and the suspects fled through the park towards Boston Pizza while he and his friends went to the nearby detachment to report the crime.
The single dad said he’s sad and also worried about what happened, and suggested kids maybe shouldn’t be at the park without supervision or that surveillance cameras be installed at the park.
“I think there needs to be some kind of security.”
He said this latest bike, which was a red and black MacNeil BMX, is the fourth bike the family has had stolen. Three others were stolen from the family’s yard and garage.
“Now we keep the bikes in the house, with the doors locked.”