Lately, there was a couple of incidents that resulted in the hours-long armed standoff. The situation keeps repeating in different areas of the city, for some reason, people think they can achieve some results by barricading themselves, sometimes with other people inside the building, threatening the hostages, who are random people or even the family members and negotiating with police. Almost every incident ends in surrender and arrest, police officers and the negotiating team work very hard to make sure of the safest resolution possible in each case.
Earlier Wednesday, police were at the scene on Salter Street and Bannerman Avenue, which they called a “serious incident.” It wrapped up at about 10:45 a.m. But at 1 p.m., they said they were back. The serious incidents come after a man was shot on Salter Street Tuesday night.
Winnipeg Police posted a tweet:
“Police are on the scene of a serious incident in the area of Young and Sargent. Please avoid the area at this time.”
Later in the day, a new call comes in for shots have been fired from a residence in this area. During the whole time, there was a heavy police presence there, Air 1, Tactical support and Crisis negotiations team. Area residents have been asked to remain indoors and surrounding schools have been placed in a hold and secure.
Police Cst. Rob Carver confirmed the ongoing standoff is connected with the situation earlier in the day.
“This morning at approximately 6 a.m. we were on the scene of a fairly serious incident on Bannerman,” he said. “We had resolved that situation, but a second situation has erupted … at approximately 12:17.”
Carver confirmed shots were fired by an individual inside the house as well as by officers, adding that police are not aware of anyone having been hit by gunfire. “I can tell you that we are looking at at least one individual in the house who is armed … I don’t believe we are looking at any sort of hostage situation.”
By 2 p.m. the K9 Unit joined the group working at a standoff.
Approximately at 6:35 p.m. Rob Carver says the standoff is over. One man is in custody. There was no one else in the house.
“Members and tactical support team are going through the house to ensure there was only one person in the house.” Cst. Carver said the man is being treated as police used “a lot of gas” to bring him out of the house. He thanked the community for being patient.
Another scary and dangerous incident occurred in the residential area right next to a school full of children right during classes. Last Friday, November 2nd Winnipeg Police blocked the street outside the Shaughnessy Park School in response to what its spokesperson called a "serious incident."
Police units were positioned on Chudley Street south of Tyndall Avenue starting at 4 a.m. and asked people to avoid the area. There were around 25 police units at the scene, including a response unit on armored vehicles. School officials said that the School located near Shaughnessy Park was in a state of retention and security - this means that classes were held, but no one could leave or enter the school from 8:30 in the morning.
After negotiations, five people surrendered to police on Friday night. First three men surrendered, this happened after the police threw several aerosols with pepper extract through the windows. Later two more came outside and were taken into custody about an hour later when the officers repeated this procedure with pepper extract.
The investigation still continues, the identities of arrested will be disclosed when it is closed. Officers are working with detained suspects on their statements to help the investigation with all the details and, most important, the reasons for such dangerous behavior.