Time served for crime spree
by Tim Petruk · CastanetA man has been sentenced to time served after pleading guilty to charges stemming from an incident that left a number of witnesses in downtown Salmon Arm shaken earlier this year.
Leonard Wilfred Nelson Gaze, 35, was sentenced Wednesday in Kamloops provincial court after pleading guilty to charges of causing a disturbance and mischief under $5,000.
Police were called to an area in downtown Salmon Arm just after 5 a.m. on May 16 following a report of a gunman armed with a Glock-style pistol. The suspect was described as a First Nations man with a tear drop tattoo beneath one eye.
Numerous witnesses offered similar descriptions. One woman said the gunman climbed into the back of her truck, and another driver said the man hopped onto his flatbed — then angrily banged on the back window when the driver stopped.
Gaze was arrested nearby. When police found him, he was in possession of a small amount of crack cocaine — but no gun.
Gaze told the author of a court-ordered pre-sentence report he was the victim. He denied having been armed and said he was being chased by rival gangsters who were shooting at him, and he was essentially doing what he had to so he could get away.
Police and prosecutors take a different view and blame drug-induced psychosis brought on by cocaine use.
The causing a disturbance charge covered Gaze’s interactions with drivers on the morning of May 16, and the mischief charge was in relation to a window he smashed at the Barley Station Pub that morning. Gaze said he broke the glass to get the attention of police while being pursued by those rival gangsters.
The breach of probation charge was unrelated. Gaze violated a term of his probation on Nov. 30, 2023, in Tappen by visiting the home of his adoptive mother.
Gaze had been in jail since his arrest on May 16. He was sentenced to 210 days, which works out to time served. He was also placed on 18 months of probation and ordered to pay $350.70 in restitution to the Barley Station Pub to cover the damage caused by the broken window.