Selasie Onegus Turner made his first court appearance yesterday at Strathmore Provincial Court and had his case adjourned until June 19.

Turner is currently facing five charges from a May 31/June 1 incident in which he led police on a multi-province pursuit that started at the Canadian border near Val Marie and lasted roughly 14 hours before his arrest in Strathmore, Alta.

Cpl. Scott Mercer of the Gleichen RCMP detachment said they got a call Friday morning from Bassano RCMP giving them a heads up that a suspicious vehicle was in the area.

"Essentially we got into a high-speed chase on Highway 1," Mercer explained. "He avoided our spike belts and continued into another neighbouring jurisdiction which was Strathmore RCMP. He came up to the town limits and at that point, he turned around and went down the opposite lane of traffic forcing vehicles off the roadway."

The RCMP then abandoned the chase with the Infiniti G37 briefly due to public and police safety. Before long the chase resumed with the RCMP believing he may be low on gas at this point due to some witness accounts.

"A little further down the road we came across him in which his vehicle was stationary and he was out trying to take another person's vehicle with violence," he said. "We actually were able to interrupt him before he was able to take someone else's vehicle."

The RCMP say the arrest of the Casselberry, Fla. resident was made without incident, even though he was using a weapon to try to steal a vehicle.

"The only thing I can say is that we have reason to believe it's an imitation firearm at this point," Mercer said. "That being said he's still been charged with robbery with an offensive weapon."

Turner will be in police custody until at least his next court appearance.

"I have assurances from the border agencies that once he's done with his criminal matters, he will come into their possession," he said. "They'll probably have to deal with his customs and immigration issues at that point."

The motive for Turner's alleged actions remains unclear, leaving the RCMP still curious.

"It's interesting in a sense and unique that we don't really know why he entered into Canada," Mercer said. "Our investigation is ongoing in that respect to try and figure out his intent for coming up here was because we don't know."

The investigation is still ongoing for the RCMP with assistance from Canada Border Services Agency, the Integrated Border Enforcement Team, and U.S. law enforcement agencies.