Times Chronicle Staff
An Oliver man faces charges after allegedly robbing a gas station in Kamloops with his three-year-old child, and then using the child as a shield when confronted by police.
Just after 7 p.m. on May 19, a Kamloops RCMP officer was conducting a traffic stop in the parking lot of a gas station on Westsyde Road when he was alerted to an armed robbery that had just occurred at the same gas station.
The suspect had allegedly entered the gas station holding the hand of his small child, and after walking around the store, he approached the counter and demanded money. During the course of the robbery, the suspect had pulled up his shirt, exposing the butt of what appeared to be a firearm, according to police.
The officer observed the man and his child depart the gas station lot and located them nearby. What happened next was very unsettling, said S/Sgt. Janelle Shoihet.
“While it is deeply disturbing that someone would commit a robbery with a child, it is even more concerning that he is alleged to have threatened the officer and used his child as a shield, by putting his child between himself and the officer.”
The man eventually released the child who ran to a nearby family member. After a brief struggle, the man was taken into custody and found to be in possession of a replica firearm.
The following charges have been approved against 32-year-old Andrew Bradley Miller: robbery, uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm, wilfully resisting or obstructing a peace officer, and using an imitation firearm to commit an offence.
