The father of one of the suspects at the center of a massive manhunt in Canada over three roadside murders says his son is on a “a suicide mission” and “wants his hurt to end.” Alan Schmegelsky—the father of 18-year-old Bryer Schmegelsky—made the comments to the Canadian Press on Wednesday even as police leveled their first charges against Schmegelsky and his suspected accomplice, 19-year-old Kam McLeod. They have each been charged with one count of second-degree murder in the death of Leonard “Len” Dyck of Vancouver, a University of British Columbia botany lecturer who was just identified as the man whose body was found near a burned-out camper last week.
Alan Schmegelsky said his son was troubled and in “very serious pain.” “A normal child doesn’t travel across the country killing people. A child in some very serious pain does,” he said, adding that Bryer was probably going to die “today or tomorrow” in a police confrontation. “Rest in peace, Bryer. I love you. I’m so sorry all this had to happen,” he said. Schmegelsky also said he thought his son and his suspected accomplice, 19-year-old Kam McLeod, were trying to go out in a “blaze of glory.”
Bryer Schmegelsky and McLeod were initially thought to have been missing but became murder suspects after the bodies of a young couple and another man were found off a highway in British Columbia. The teenagers are thought to have torched another vehicle that they were traveling in the town of Gillam, about 2,000 miles from where the young couple was found slain. Police have set up roadblocks outside the town and officers are said to be “coming from all over” to search for the two suspects, who have warrants out for their arrest.
Read it at AP
