Prince George, B.C. – Prince George Mayor Lyn Hall is very concerned about the gun violence that resulted in a double murder in the city this week but at the same time is extremely appreciative of the rapid and thorough response of the large number of RCMP professionals who have been on top of developments right from the start of the investigation.

51-year-old Thomas Reed of Burns Lake and 46-year-old David Franks of Prince George were shot to death in a car to the side of Foothills Boulevard, between North Nechako Road and the Otway overpass, just after 2:30 a.m. last Wednesday morning.  A third man in the car suffered non-life threatening gunshot wounds and was taken to hospital for treatment, with a “safety plan” in place for his protection.

Police had two suspects in custody within an hour of the shootings, although they have not released information about those arrests.  Then on Thursday afternoon a third suspect was apprehended from the Caledonia Trailer Park on Northern Nechako Road.

The three, 27-year-old Aaron Ryan Moore, 33-year-old Joshua Steven West and 24-year-old Perry Andrew Charlie, all of Prince George, are each facing two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.  Police are still conducting a manhunt for a fourth suspect, 21-year-old Seaver Tye Miller of Prince George, who is wanted for two counts of first-degree murder and one of attempted murder.

Mayor Hall says “I’m obviously concerned about it and concerned for the public safety of the citizens of Prince George.  We don’t see this very often but here we have this incident that occurred and right away you think about people who may have been bystanders or innocent folks, and it’s about that public safety aspect that comes to mind first and foremost.

The fact that the shootings took place beside a busy thoroughfare in the city is also a concern to the mayor.  “Well we’re a 24-hour-a-day city.  You have people going to work, people doing various things, that’s the nature of our city.  There could have been people going home from work, people going home from being out for the evening, parties, whatever it might be and so to have it happen anytime, day or night, is a concern because we’ve got so much traffic around the community 24-hours a day.”

Mayor Hall has nothing but praise for the work the police investigators have done on this case.  “It’s incredible how quickly Superintendent (Warren) Brown and the rest of the RCMP team were able to get arrests.  They do great work in our community and they have a good pulse on what’s happening in the city and I think when you see results like that, it certainly should give reassurance that the police are doing a great job in Prince George.”

“You don’t like to see it happen but if it happens the other thing that you want to have happen is a quick conclusion and quick arrests and, obviously, that’s what’s happened in this case.”

Mayor Hall is advising residents to heed the police warning that a fourth suspect in the shootings who is considered armed and dangerous is still on the loose.  “Yes I’d heard that from the Superintendent and obviously we hope the RCMP are able to find that fourth individual.  I think that what I heard at the press conference (Friday) reassured me that they’re on it.”

“Superintendent Brown’s comments were that if you see this person make sure you don’t approach and treat it very cautiously.  But I feel pretty good that they’re on it and they’re going to have results very quickly.”  Suspect Seaver Tye Miller is pictured, right.  He is considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached.  Anyone with information about him should call the Prince George RCMP at (250) 561-3300 or dial 9-1-1.

Asked whether he is concerned about the level of crime in the city Mayor Hall says “well, this particular incident surprised me.  Where we are right now with all levels of crime in the community, we had a report from Superintendent Brown at a public council meeting a couple of weeks ago and he was telling us about various areas that have improved.  A couple of areas are higher but we think that overall, as he points out and we all knew around the council table is that there’s a very, very small percentage of people in this community that are involved in that kind of lifestyle.”

“I think we’re all feeling very good about the work that the RCMP are doing to curb crime.  So if you take a look at things like break and enters, auto theft, you know he talked at length about assaults and those kinds of things and unfortunately statistics show it happens in our community but amongst a very low percentage of people.”

“You know if you take a look at our community overall we’re a very safe community, but its incidents like this that surprise us.  As I said it’s a very small percentage of the population and if you’re involved in that lifestyle, bad things happen.”

“You know it’s a safe community, we’re dealing with the crime that’s occurring and it’s about the community’s assistance.  If we have crimes that take place, whether its vehicle thefts, break-ins, we want people to take notice of their community, people know what’s going on.”