Salmon Arm RCMP are investigating an evening of planned mischief that resulted in tires being deflated on more than 30 vehicles in the community.
Following the Salmon Arm Silverbacks’ 4-3 overtime win versus the Vernon Vipers at Shaw Centre on Friday night, April 21, a number of the game’s attendees returned to their vehicles to find at least one of their tires had been deflated. Owners of targeted vehicles reported finding a pebble lodged in the cap on their deflated tire’s air valve.
“To the best of our knowledge there were a number of vehicles, about 10, that had a single tire deflated on their vehicles, and it seemed the vehicles we are aware of were all larger style trucks,” said arena manager David Knight.
Knight said he spoke with the RCMP and Salmon Arm Security Friday night, and when he left the arena around 12:30 a.m., all the vehicles were gone.
“I heard a number of people came out with compressors and got a number of people back on the road. Luckily it was just deflating…,” said Knight, referring to a photo of a spread sheet being circulated on social media from an undisclosed source.
The spread sheet listed numerous businesses and government buildings, with instructions listed next to each such as “Tire Deflation,” “Superglue in Locks,” “Water in Drive Through microphones,” and “be creative.” Shared with the spread sheet was another post, again from an undisclosed source, providing instructions on where to park, and to wear a mask to “protect your identity.”
“Some of you may have heard of the Silverbacks game, I had not and was pleasantly surprised to find full parking lots of SUV’s and Pickups,” reads the post. “It’s crucial to send a message to the people who consume things actively such as sports, as entertainment is created for the purpose to distract.”
Staff Sgt. Scott West said police were alerted Friday, April 21, about the “planned mischief which was to target multiple private vehicles and businesses.”
Patrolling officers were unable to locate a suspect, West said in a Tuesday, April 25 media release.
“There were tires deflated on a number of vehicles at a sporting event, at least one other government office and a local business within the city,” said West. “Well in excess of 30 vehicles were affected, by having one or more tires deflated.”
West said investigators are following up on information police have received from the public, and asked anyone with information that might further the investigation to contact the Salmon Arm RCMP detachment at 250-832-6044, or leave a tip with Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).
Knight said Salmon Arm Security will be on site for upcoming Silverbacks home games.
“They’re always on site and obviously the RCMP are aware of the situation and I’m sure they’ll be doing their monitoring,” said Knight.
Read more: Here comes the sun: ‘Substantial’ shift coming to B.C.’s Interior with 27 C temperatures
Read more: Highway traffic slowed south of Enderby due to vehicle incident
lachlan@saobserver.net
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
Sign up for our newsletter to get Salmon Arm stories in your inbox every morning.