Man whose alleged actions caused hold-and-secure at school is ID’d
By JEREMY APPEL on February 15, 2020.
jappel@medicinehatnews.com@MHNJeremyAppel Police have revealed the identity of a man arrested last week after a crime spree across Medicine Hat that resulted in a hold-and-secure implemented at Southview School. Julian Morris, 32, faces two charges of break-and-enter into a residence, as well as individual counts of possessing a weapon dangerous to the public, wearing a disguise in an attempt to commit an indictable offence, theft of a motor vehicle, possessing stolen property under $5,000, possessing methamphetamine, transportation fraud and breach of release order. These crimes allegedly occurred over an 11-hour period on Feb. 7, with his arrest occurring around 6:30 p.m., so Morris got an early start. “It started with a theft of a vehicle and every time patrols were responding to different complaints, he had left the scene and was stirring up problems in another part of the city,” explained Major Crimes Unit Staff Sgt. Chad Holt. “He was moving, and as fast as officers could get there, he was moving on.” He said police realized it was the same person committing these offences based on the consistent description various witnesses provided. “He had this real specific clothing description,” Holt said, adding the accused wore black shorts with leggings and a green shirt with bright coloured shoes. “It was something distinct enough like that you’d remember.” The file was originally handled by the patrol section, but major crimes became involved around 4 p.m. “He shuffled between property offences, theft of a vehicle and then weird behaviour, like breaking into a residence, breaking into another residence and getting spotted by people,” said Holt. “They were random. I don’t think he had any particular plan or was organized in any particular way.” One of the charges – possession of meth – suggests Morris could have been under the influence that day. Around 3:10 p.m., just around the end of the school day, Southview School entered a secure-and-hold because they were told Morris was in the neighbourhood, which administrators told the News last week was at the police’s recommendation. The accused was ultimately found outside a house on Cocks Way. “Based on the descriptions, we had an idea of where he might have been based on his last known address and then officers were deployed to check that area because he was seen on foot,” said Holt. “He ended up being spotted by one of our undercover officers who were in the area where he was arrested.” 16-15
