Armed standoff ends peacefully in Grand Valley
Monday May 12 2008
By Richard Vivian
Police carrying high-powered weapons took up positions in an area of Grand Valley on the weekend. An armed standoff began late Saturday night, following a reported domestic disturbance, and ended peacefully Sunday morning.
“This is about as serious as it gets,” Sgt. Tom Watt of the Dufferin OPP says of the incident. “Anytime you get an occurrence with a firearm involved we take that (very seriously), especially when a domestic is involved because of the heightened [potential for] violence.”
Officers responded shortly before midnight, after receiving a report of assault from a woman inside the residence. Police say she subsequently left the home and wasn’t involved in the nearly 10-hour standoff.
A man, armed with a .22 calibre bolt-action rifle, remained inside through the night. Members of the OPP tactical response unit removed him without incident at about 9:30 a.m. Sunday.
“With a firearm you never know [what’s going to unfold] because you don’t know where the bullet is going to go if he does happen to fire,” Watt says, explaining officers took steps to establish and maintain a safe perimeter around the home. “We just try to wait him out.”
A hostage negotiator attempted to convince the man to end the standoff and turn himself over to police, the sergeant says.
“Alcohol was involved,” he adds.
Village resident Jill Barber tells The Banner she was “pretty shocked” to come across the scene when she went for a walk Sunday morning.
“It caught everybody off-guard, that’s for sure,” she says, explaining the police officers wore camouflage clothing and held high-powered guns.
“There was a lot of them and they were all in the bushes surrounding all sorts of backyards,” she adds of the police. “Certainly we made sure that we stayed out of that area, as I’m sure a lot of people did.”
The accused, whose name hasn’t been released, is charged with three counts of uttering threats, two counts each of assault and mischief, and one count each of unlawful possession of a firearm, careless use of a firearm and breach of recognizance.
He was held in custody pending a bail hearing Monday, after press time.
“We’ll be opposing bail,” Watt says.
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