Photo courtesy Grande Prairie RCMP

By Erika Rolling

Crime

Guitar case filled with guns, drugs and more seized following traffic stop flee

May 21, 2025 | 12:08 PM

Four individuals from the Dawson Creek area, including a youth, have been charged with a number of offences stemming from an initial traffic stop in Grande Prairie.

On Saturday, members of the Grande Prairie RCMP tried to stop a Chevy Cruze with a stolen plate, but it fled from police.

The Grande Prairie RCMP Crime Reduction Unit was able to locate the same vehicle a short time later while it was being parked at a hotel. The people inside the car got out and went to a room in a neighbouring motel carrying a guitar case.

Mounties with the CRU called out the suspects at the motel and they complied and exited the room so police could do a safety sweep of the room, during which they noticed firearms.

After obtaining a search warrant for the room, RCMP found:

• 54.4 grams of cocaine
• 73.2 grams methamphetamines
• 28.02 grams of fentanyl
• 29 Oxy pills
• A loaded handgun
• A stolen Kodiak Defence rifle
• A 12 Gauge pump action shotgun
• An altered .22 semi auto rifle
• Several hundred rounds of ammunition

Three individuals; 30-year-old Tanner Allan Murray, 29-year-old Justin David Sinclair and a youth, were arrested at the scene. A fourth person, 39-year-old Shawna Elizabeth Capot, has a warrant out for her arrest.

The charges for the four suspects are listed below:

• Possession of controlled substance for purpose of trafficking (x4)
• Possession of property obtained by crime
• Unauthorized possession of firearm (x4)
• Possession of a stolen firearm
• Other firearm-related offences (x8)

Murray was also out on probation, which he is accused of breaching in relation to charges in Dawson Creek, and had a warrant out for his arrest. He was charged with the following offences on top of the previous ones:

• Flight from police
• Dangerous driving
• Resisting arrest
• Driving while prohibited
• Possession of firearms contrary to order (x4)

Murray, Sinclair and the youth were brought before a Justice of the Peace following the arrests. Murray and Sinclair were remanded into custody, and were to be in Grande Prairie court on Wednesday, May 21. The youth was released on conditions and is to appear in Grande Prairie’s Alberta Youth Justice Court on Monday, June 16.