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July 01, 2016 - 12:30 PM
DAD OFFERS ROLEX WATCH AS SURETY FOR HIS SON'S RELEASE
KAMLOOPS - A Kamloops Provincial Court judge is allowing Derek Muirhead, 29, to be released and live with his father in Langley.
Muirhead is charged with several counts in connection to a standoff near Thompson Rivers University last week.
Court heard during a bail hearing yesterday, June 30, that two men were seen fighting in the 700-block of McGill Road on June 25. Witnesses heard shots being fired and called the police.
RCMP officers first located Michael Boyer, one of the men involved in the fight. They detained him, and Crown prosecutor Alex Janse says Boyer cooperated with the investigation.
Court heard that Boyer told police a man he didn't know tried to fight him and pulled out a gun. A wrestling match ensued and Boyer took the gun from the suspect.
Boyer stashed the gun near Columbia Street and Notre Dame Drive by the cemetery. He told police he remembered the accused trying to pistol whip him in the head. Boyer threw his arm up to block it, and that's when the shot fired.
Muirhead retreated back to his apartment on McGill Road where he stowed away for seven hours while police attempted to make contact with him.
Officers had to go onto a neigbour's patio to get closer to Muirhead. When they caught sight of him, he was in his apartment holding a bottle of Grey Goose Vodka in one hand and a two-litre of 7-Up in the other.
Muirhead barracaded himself inside and police said they heard him pulling heavy objects in front of his door and threatening to commit suicide. But after seven hours he finally came out and surrendered to police.
But Muirhead's defence lawyer Kristy Neurauter fired back at those allegations, saying this was a case of mistaken identity.
Neurauter says it was actually Boyer who initiated the fight and shot the firearm.
"What innocent victim takes a gun from a crime scene and stashes it in a cemetery to hide it from police?" Neurauter said.
Neurauter says Muirhead went to the police several days before the incident saying he was being threatened, and the reason he barricaded himself is because police didn't help him the first time.
Muirhead has been released to the care of his father, on strict conditions including house arrest. His bail is set at $50,000 with a $10,000 cash deposit, secured by his father's Rolex watch.
Muirhead is set to appear in court at the end of the month.
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