Prince George RCMP arrested a man Friday believed responsible for a stabbing death outside a city convenience store three-and-a-half years ago.
Equipped with a warrant, members of the detachment's serious crimes unit arrested the 20-year-old suspect in Victoria and he now faces a second-degree murder charge. His name is protected from publication under the Youth Criminal Justice Act because he was a 16-year-old minor at the time of the incident.
Tyrone Myles Thomas, 39, died July 9, 2010 at University Hospital of Northern B.C. from stab wounds suffered during the early morning hours outside the 7-11 on 20th Avenue near Victoria Street.
Police, who were called to the scene at 3:20 a.m., arrested a man at the time of the incident but later released him without charges.
On Friday, police also asked for the public's help locating a possible witness - a man believed to be from out of town who was in the store at the time but left before RCMP had arrived. He was driving a pickup pulling a trailer with a boat and had left the store in the belief that the boat was being vandalized, police said.
Investigators want to speak to the man and are asking him to contact the serious crime unit at 250-561-3300.
Shortly before his death, Thomas had moved to Fort St. James from Prince George and was back in the city for a medical appointment.
He also had a small track record of petty theft. Between July 2005 and November 2008, he was convicted three times for theft $5,000 or less and was sentenced to seven days in jail on the first two incidents and to 21 days in jail on the third.
Thomas was also sentenced in November 2008 to 21 and 24 days in jail for two counts of failing to appear in court. All of the cases were heard in Vancouver provincial court.
