Man jailed for pointing handgun at teens near Departure Bay Beach

He was also hit with a one year driving ban for a separate incident in Nanaimo in July, 2021.

Credit amassed by being jailed since the incident means Rogers is slated to be released from jail in late August.

The Crown’s Basil McCormick said one of the teens phoned Nanaimo RCMP within a few minutes of the incident and provided a detailed account of the suspect and what happened.

Minutes later Rogers was spotted by responding police officers exiting bushes next to a Loat St. apartment building where he was arrested.

McCormick said while being transported to local RCMP cells, Rogers continuously smashed his head against the plexi-glass of the police cruiser.

Investigators combed the scene and found the handgun, later confirmed to be the same weapon pointed at the teens.

Rogers was positively linked to the prohibited nine millimeter weapon following a lab analysis.

“The single-stack magazine had been inserted into the gun, but it was unloaded. The gun comes from the same family of firearms used by the general duty RCMP. The gun came back registered to a deceased male,” McCormick said.

It’s unclear how Rogers obtained the gun.

Defence attorney Michael Ritzker said his client has used his time in custody in order to forge a law-abiding future.

“He was not thinking very clearly as a result of consuming some drugs that changed his ability to think clearly and make better decisions,’ Ritzker told the judge about his client’s behaviour.

The teens and Rogers were unknown to each other.

Judge Sheila Archer called the offence serious, which could have had a much different outcome.

“The circumstances were obviously quite traumatic to these four people, I’m sure quite extremely alarming and Mr. Rogers I hope understands that,” judge Archer said.

Rogers’ limited criminal record includes a highly disturbing incident in Nanaimo, resulting in a 20 month jail sentence.

Court was told Rogers’ first criminal conviction occurred in Oct. 2016 when he and two other men went out late at night looking to randomly attack somebody in Nanaimo.

The trio came across two men unknown to them on a residential street where Rogers punched one of them in the face, resulting in a severe concussion to the victim whose head hit the pavement.

Bleeding in his brain formed, triggering seizures years after the attack.

Rogers also received a month in jail after he was convicted of assaulting a peace officer.

The offender is scheduled to go on trial next month for a spousal assault which allegedly occurred one month prior to the gun-pointing incident.

A prior 10-year firearms ban against Rogers was replaced with a lifetime ban.

He didn’t formally address the court during his 45-minute hearing which he attended via teleconference from the Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre in Saanich.

Rogers was previously denied bail by judge Archer for his behaviour near Departure Bay Beach.

A third firearms offence applied against the offender was dropped.

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by Ian Holmes

Man jailed for pointing handgun at teens near Departure Bay Beach

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