Source: Brandon Police Service Media Release At 12:20 am police were called to the 1400 block of Victoria Ave for a female that was bleeding from the head. Police arrived and learned that she been struck in the head with her own skateboard as the suspects stole it and a cell phone from her. She received non-life threatening injuries as a result of this incident. Police were able to locate two suspects in the 2200 block of Victoria Ave at a residence where they located the stolen items. A 15 year old female and a 23 year old male were arrested and charged for Robbery with violence. A warrant has been requested for a third suspect in this incident.

Source: Brandon Police Service Media Release At approximately 9:00 pm last night, Members of the Brandon Police Service Operational Support and Crime Suppression Unit and the Police Service Dog Unit conducted a traffic stop in a gas station parking lot on 18th Street North. A quantity of illegal tobacco was observed in plain view within the vehicle and the operator was placed under arrest.  A search of the vehicle incident to the arrest resulted in the seizure of additional illegal tobacco and a large quantity of Canadian Currency.  Police estimate the currency seizure is in excess of 2 Million dollars.  A 29 year old man from Ontario was subsequently charged under Section 121.1(1) of the Criminal Code; Possession of Unstamped Tobacco, Section 80(2)(a) of The Tax Administration and Miscellaneous Taxes Act; Possession of Unmarked Tobacco and Section 354(1) of the Criminal Code; Possess Proceeds of Crime.  The accused will appear before the court later today

On May 13th, Vincent Massey High School students competed amongst 1000 of the top high school students in United States, Canada, and other prominent international schools in the Annual University of Waterloo Chemistry Exam competition. Vincent Massey is very proud of the entire group of 15 that represented the school for their participation in this year’s rendition of the competition. Many of the students obtained an overall score higher than the Country and World Average. One of Vincent-Massey’s fifteen participating students, Bryce Friesen, was individually recognized for his performance in the competition. Bryce obtained a rank of 108th in the world and was in the Top 100 contestants participating from the U.S. and Canada. Bryce will receive a Limited-Edition Plaque featuring an element from the Timeline of Elements poster to celebrate his outstanding achievement. Congratulations Bryce! (submitted)

On Wednesday evening Brandon Fire and Emergency Services and Brandon Police Service responded to the 1000 block of Dennis Street for a structure fire. According to eyewitnesses, there was substantial smoke coming from the inside of the house, with flames licking out the front door. Fire crews made an aggressive attack which knocked down the fire. A fan was set up to clear the house of smoke and allow firefighters to continue extinguishing hotspots, using a thermal imaging camera to find heat. A police officer confirmed that there was nobody injured in the fire.

Sailor First Class (S1) Eric Vorspel grew up in Brandon, Manitoba and he has come a long way after joining the Canadian Armed Forces and travelling the world. He is currently deployed in the Canadian warship Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Calgary which just finished Operation (Op) ARTEMIS, a successful counter-terrorism and maritime security mission in the Middle East. S1 Vorspel is a Naval Electronics Sensor Operator on HMCS Calgary. On a normal day he’s using the ships sensors to scan the seas for information about other ships, aircraft, and anything above the waterline that is relevant to operations. During the ship’s maritime interdiction operations, S1 Vorspel will sometimes act as a lookout, using the ‘Big Eyes’ binoculars to watch suspicious vessels during boarding operations. S1 Vorspel went to Crocus Planes Regional Secondary School and while he was still attending high school he joined Brandon’s artillery Reserve Unit, the 26th Field Regiment. After high school he continued with the Reserve Forces and worked at Keystone Center, scanning tickets for Wheat Kings hockey games. In 2017 he was deployed to Poland with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry regiment on Operation REASSURANCE. “On that operation I travelled around Europe and saw so many countries. I got bit by the travel bug pretty hard and the navy seemed like the best option to do more travelling,” said S1 Vorspel. S1 Vorspel joined the Royal Canadian Navy in his current occupation in 2018 so he could get that travelling experience. His current deployment has taken him throughout Asia, the Middle East, and will continue on to Australia and New Zealand. “It’s really cool to be a prairie sailor. I find a lot of people on ship are originally from coastal areas like Victoria, British Columbia and have been around water their whole life. To come from a small prairie city with no water activities or big lakes means it’s really different for me and I am getting very unique experiences compared to a lot of other prairie folk,” he said. “Still there isn’t so much difference between the prairies and the middle of the ocean. Instead of rolling hills its rolling seas and instead of green and yellow, its blue and grey.” S1 Vorspel’s mom Heather, dad Michael, and brother Benjamin all still live in Brandon, and he enjoys going home to visit every Christmas. Submitted: Captain Jeff Klassen