The Rifles Were Unloaded and Leaning Against a Wall, the Casings Were Already on the Floor, and What Brought Officers to the Door Was People Being Sick in the Hallway: Manitoba RCMP Charge Tristen Houle, 25, in Portage la Prairie (September 16, 2026)

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE — Nobody called about a gun. At around half past three in the morning on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, Manitoba RCMP were sent to a disturbance at an apartment block on the 600-block of 6th Street Northwest in Portage la Prairie, where a party inside one unit had spilled out into the corridor and people in the corridor were getting sick. Officers arriving on the floor noticed something else: the distinct smell of bear spray. They knocked on the apartment door, were let in, and saw two scoped rifles leaning against a wall, unlocked and unloaded, with empty casings nearby. Only then, the force says, did they learn that the man who lived there was under a court order not to possess firearms at all.

Tristen Houle, 25, of Portage la Prairie was arrested without incident and remanded into custody. He faces five counts. The Manitoba RCMP published the file the following day, Wednesday, September 16, 2026.

The Order Came First, and It Covered Three Things

The fact that carries this file is not the pair of rifles. It is the order. The RCMP says the male resident was under court-ordered conditions to refrain from possessing or consuming alcohol, illegal drugs and firearms — three distinct prohibitions running at the same time against the same man.

Two of the five counts flow directly from that. Weapons possession contrary to order is the count for holding a firearm while an order says you may not. Failure to comply with a release order condition is the separate count for breaching the order itself, and its presence tells the reader something the release never states outright: this was a release order, which means Houle was already before the courts on another matter when officers walked into the apartment. The RCMP does not identify that matter, the court that imposed the conditions, the date they were imposed, how long they were to run, or which of the three conditions the breach count is tied to.

The third count, possessing a firearm when knowing possession is unauthorized, is a Criminal Code offence in its own right and requires the Crown to prove knowledge. Laying it alongside the contrary-to-order count suggests the force is alleging Houle knew the order applied to him. The release does not say so in those words.

Bear Spray, and the Count Nobody Expects to See

The first count — administering a noxious thing — is the one doing the least obvious work. Bear spray is a capsaicin aerosol sold legally as wildlife deterrent, and discharging it at people is prosecuted in Canada under that heading or under assault with a weapon. Here the force lays the noxious-thing count and leaves the rest blank.

The release does not say who discharged the bear spray, where in the building it was discharged, whether it was discharged inside the apartment or in the hallway, whether it was aimed at anyone in particular, or whether it was recovered. It says people in the hallway were getting sick and that officers noted the smell. It does not publish an injury count, does not say whether anyone was treated or taken to hospital, does not say how many people were at the party, and does not say whether any other person present was arrested, spoken to or identified.

Two Rifles, No Ammunition Figure

What the officers saw, on the force’s own account, were two rifles with scopes, leaning up against a wall, unlocked and unloaded, and empty casings. Unloaded and unlocked is what produces the unsafe-storage count: the Criminal Code and its storage regulations require non-restricted firearms to be unloaded and either trigger-locked or kept in a locked container or room, and leaning against a wall in an apartment satisfies the first half and not the second.

The empty casings are the loose end. Casings are spent — they are what is left after a round has been fired. The release notes them and draws no conclusion from them: it does not say what calibre they were, how many there were, whether they matched either rifle, whether they were recent, or whether any shots-fired call preceded the disturbance. It does not say whether the rifles were test-fired or sent for examination. It publishes no serial numbers, no makes or models, no calibres, and no statement about whether either rifle was reported stolen or traced.

What Is Not Reported

No file or occurrence number, unusual even for a short Manitoba RCMP release. No ammunition count and no statement of whether live ammunition was found. No injury count. No mention of whether alcohol or illegal drugs — the other two things the order covered — were present at a party the force says was spilling into a hallway, and no drug or liquor count is laid. No apartment or unit number. No court date. No quoted officer, and no media contact block at all, which is not the usual RCMP template. No named unit beyond the Portage la Prairie detachment.

No gang, street gang, criminal organization or outlaw motorcycle club has been named by the Manitoba RCMP in this file. None is named or implied here, and no profile page on this site is linked, because none has been alleged by police.

These allegations have not been tested in court.