Hours-long standoff ends in arrest at Richmond townhouse
Tadz Palys was studying in his Richmond, B.C., home when he noticed police cars outside.
“My in-laws had my daughter across the street so I went over to go see her,” he told CTV News. But it then took an hour and a half for him to get back.
“Police escorted us back over here,” he said.
That’s because Mounties had created a large perimeter around his town house complex.
Just after 12 p.m. two bailiffs had gone to a home at Norton Court to enforce a Supreme Court order to remove a man. But when the two bailiffs entered the property, the man allegedly pointed a firearm at them.
Not long after, the bailiffs allege the man went out onto his second storey balcony and fired his gun into the air multiple times.
Richmond RCMP were called, along with the Lower Mainland Emergency Response Team. Mounties quickly shut down the area on Westminster Highway between Gilley Road and McLean Avenue.
“Police escorted us back over here,” Palys said, adding he was told to stay away from windows and doors.
He listened as officers tried to negotiate with the man barricaded inside his home.
“They were just trying to convince him to come to the patio and put where they can see his hands,” he said. “It sounded like he was trying to make some sort of demands.”
In surveillance video from one of the houses right next door, ERT members could be seen moving through yards, heavily armed, getting into position.
After hours of talking, neighbours heard a loud bang.
“We just heard loud bangs, my daughter was asking me ‘what was that daddy?’” Palys said. “I just grabbed my daughter and ran into the stairwell.”
Patrick Santos, another neighbour, said it sounded like a flash bang.
“I think it was the police trying to make him go out I guess, a flash bang,” he said.
“It was a loud explosion it was like a transformer that blew. It was that loud.”
Surveillance video from a neighbour's home shows, at about 3:45 p.m., the man walking out of his home, with his hands in the air.
“He walked out slowly, he knelt down and he lay flat on the floor. And that’s when they picked him up and took him away,” said Santos.
Police said in a news release the man was safely taken into custody without incident.
Neighbours told CTV News they’d seen police at his house before.
“If there’s any sort of disturbance it’s always in that area in front of his house,” said Santos. “I don’t know him that well, only that he reacts unpredictably.”
No one was injured and Richmond RCMP are still investigating.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction overturned by N.Y. appeals court
New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, reversing a landmark ruling of the #MeToo era in determining the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against the ex-movie mogul that weren't part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
CTE: Researchers believe widespread brain injury may contribute to veteran suicide rate
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
New deep-water channel allows first ship to pass Key bridge wreckage in Baltimore
The first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore on Thursday after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.