Regina cop accused of keeping illegal AR-15 style gun taken in during amnesty period

It all started about four years ago during a provincial gun amnesty. Constable Sheldon Cowell-Chuck was on duty picking up an illegal gun for destruction. Now police say he took the gun for himself rather than destroying it. The firearm charge alleges he possessed a prohibited firearm without being the holder of a license under which he may possess it and a registration certificate for the firearm. The gun that police say he took was a Bushmaster XM-15E2S, a semi-automatic assault-style rifle that was originally prohibited in May of 2020. No chief wants to be the person standing in front of the community saying one of our own has been charged criminally. In saying that, it's important. It's important to me that we're accountable, that we show that we have a set of standards. There's now a breach of trust charge against him, along with a gun charge for unauthorized possession. I've stood before you in similar situations more times in this past year as Chief of Police than I would certainly like. These are not easy days for our service. But the public and our employees all need to know that any type of misconduct will not be condoned. Cowell Chuck is set to appear in Regina Provincial Court on December 15th. Alex Kozrowski, CBC News, Regina.