A man is facing 19 firearm and drug-related charges after Yukon RCMP seized cocaine and a number of weapons, including a semi-automatic rifle apparently modified to have fully-automatic capabilities, from a property near Tagish on July 31.
According to a police press release, RCMP officers were conducting a search in the Jake’s Corner area for an unrelated investigation “when they heard several rapid gunshots fired nearby.”
Officers traced the sound to a nearby property, where they found shell casings “evidence to suggest that shots had recently been fired” there.
Police also found two men and a woman on the property. Twenty-nine-year-old Jonathan Baglee was arrested for possession of a firearm, a breach of “court-imposed conditions.”
The other two people were released without charges.
Officers executed a search warrant at the property the next day and seized 20 long guns, a handgun, a cross bow, a “large assortment of gun parts and ammunition,” 117 grams of cocaine and cash. They also seized “evidence consistent with drug trafficking activity.”
The press release says that “at least four” of the seized firearms are prohibited, including a “semi-automatic style rifle that appeared to have been modified to fully automatic capabilities.”
Baglee was charged with an additional 18 offences related to firearms offences and possession of cocaine for the purposes of trafficking following the search.
He made his first court appearance Aug. 2 and was released on conditions.
The investigation is ongoing.
Contact Jackie Hong at jackie.hong@yukon-news.com