Twenty-Four Charges Between Four Men and Nobody Was Hit: One Firearm Came Out of the Car Loaded, and Shane Bear Was Already Barred From Having Either of Them (September 29, 2026)

At about 3 p.m. on Saturday, September 26, 2026, people inside a vehicle on Big River First Nation, Saskatchewan fired a gun toward a parked vehicle at a residential property. Nothing was hit and nobody was hurt. The car left, and what followed was a flight from police that ended in Debden. Two firearms and ammunition were recovered from the vehicle and one of the two was loaded. On Tuesday, September 29 the Saskatchewan RCMP published the file: four men charged, twenty-four counts between them, under Information #90644844. Three of the four face six identical counts each. The fourth, Shane Bear, 39, faces twelve, and four of his twelve allege he was already under court orders forbidding exactly what he is accused of doing.

The orders Bear is alleged to have been under

Bear’s charge list is the file in miniature. He is charged with two counts of weapons possession contrary to order and one count of operation while prohibited — three counts that do not describe the shooting at all, but describe his status when it happened. He is additionally charged with two counts of failing to comply with a release order. On the allegations, he was a man out on conditions, barred from driving and barred from possessing weapons, in a car with two guns, one loaded, driving away from police.

The release publishes none of the orders. What the earlier prohibition arose from, when it was imposed, how long it runs and what the release order conditions were are all absent, as is any prior record. That matters because the prohibition counts are the counts that make this file carry weight beyond a discharge that hit nothing: the Criminal Code treats a firearm in the hands of someone a court has already told not to touch one as a different offence from the same firearm in anyone else’s hands.

Three men, one charge sheet, no distinctions

Barry Morin, 38, of Big River First Nation, Garry Swiftwolfe, 36, of Big River First Nation, and Jacob Verhey, 34, of Debden are each charged with the same six counts: two of unsafe storage of a firearm, two of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and two of unauthorized possession of a non-restricted firearm. Two of each, for the two guns. Not one count differentiates the three men from one another.

That is a common way to charge occupants of a vehicle when the Crown cannot yet say who held what, and it is not in itself unusual. What follows from it is that the public record contains no allegation about who fired, who owned either gun, who was driving, or who among the four is alleged to have done anything beyond being in the car. Nobody is charged with discharging a firearm. Nobody is charged with pointing one. The release describes shots fired toward a parked vehicle and the charge sheet does not contain a single count that names that act.

Two firearms, described only as non-restricted

Three of the four men are charged with unauthorized possession of a non-restricted firearm, which places both guns in the long-gun category rather than handguns. Beyond that classification nothing is published: no make, no type, no calibre, no indication of which of the two was loaded, no round count, no statement of whether either was stolen or traced, and no photograph. The ammunition recovered is not quantified.

The unsafe-storage counts sit oddly beside the dangerous-purpose counts. Careless storage alleges a gun left where it should not have been; possession for a dangerous purpose alleges a gun carried with intent. Both are charged, twice each, against all four men, over the same two firearms.

Two courthouses, six weeks apart

Bear, Swiftwolfe and Verhey were to appear in Prince Albert Provincial Court on October 1, 2026, two days after the announcement. Morin was to appear at Whitefish on November 10, 2026, six weeks later — the same incident, the same charge sheet, a different courthouse and a date more than a month apart, with no explanation published for either difference.

Custody status is published for none of the four. Neither is the time or place of any arrest, whether the arrests were made at the end of the pursuit or later, whether anyone else was in the vehicle, who owned the parked car that was shot at, whether it was damaged, or whether the people at the residence were known to the four accused. The release says no damage or injuries resulted, which establishes that the shots missed and nothing more. No motive appears anywhere, and neither does the word targeted.

This briefing is built on the Saskatchewan RCMP release of September 29, 2026, which is the whole of the located public record on this file; no outlet account and no court document has been consulted. Nobody is charged with discharging a firearm and nothing here alleges who fired. The prohibition and release-order counts against Shane Bear are allegations that he was bound by such orders, not findings that he was. No criminal organization, street gang or outlaw motorcycle club is named by police, and none is named here. None of the twenty-four counts has been tested in court and every accused is presumed innocent.