The Regina Police Service has charged four individuals after an investigation that uncovered the illegal manufacturing of guns and computer-machined firearms parts. RPS describe the case as having “alarming implications for public safety.”
In a release sent out on Monday morning, the investigation began on Friday, May 8 and involved multiple units within the service including tech crime members, the Regina Integrated Intelligence Unit (RIIU), National Weapons Enforcement Support Team (NWEST) and Crime Reduction Team (CRT).
Searches began on Friday after a report of gun shots where a confrontation happened at a suite on the 1000 block of Edgar Street. Early stages of the investigation indicated a dispute between two groups that began on social media, which evolved into an actual altercation on Edgar Street.
Police learned that two teenage boys ages 16 and 15 used a 2×4 board to damage a door at the suite. Later on, a vehicle arrived at the scene where a man allegedly discharged a firearm at the suite which was still occupied by residents before the suspects fled the area.
Regina police were able to identify the suspects, leading them to a residence on Fines Drive. Patrol officers saw one of the suspects leaving in a vehicle where they conducted a high-risk traffic stop and arrested the individual.
Officers were still at the home on Fines Drive where they arrested a second man and discovered a firearm part during his arrest. Four more individuals exited the residence without incident; police charged two of them – a 15-year-old boy and 16-year-old boy – with mischief under $5000 following the incident on Edgar Street.
During the searches and arrests, police located a number of items including a box containing firearms parts, ammunition and other evidence of manufactured firearms.
37-year-old Gregg Joshua Meyer and 37-year-old Jonathan Joseph Yurkoski face multiple charges including weapons trafficking/manufacture prohibited weapon.
Yurkoski and Meyer made their first court appearances on Monday morning. The two teenagers were released with a youth court date of July 16.
