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
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Calgary bridges remain closed due to ongoing police incident
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
Kinew, Poilievre meet at Manitoba legislature, discuss each other's priorities
Premier Wab Kinew and federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre met at the Manitoba legislature Thursday afternoon.
developing A bus plunges off a bridge in South Africa, killing 45 people. 8-year-old child is only survivor
A bus carrying worshippers headed to an Easter festival plunged off a bridge on a mountain pass and burst into flames in South Africa Thursday, killing at least 45 people, authorities said.
George Washington family secrets revealed by DNA from unmarked 19th century graves
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
'We won't forget': How some Muslims view Poilievre's stance on Israel-Hamas war
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.