There was a large RCMP presence on Sherman Road in North Cowichan on Saturday afternoon.
The RCMP called their Emergency Response Team to help after getting a call of a man barricading in a home in a busy residential neighbourhood.
“There were all kinds of people in green uniforms and mounties all over the place and police cars, and the road was shut down and they had rifles in their hands,” said Bill Mossman, a neighbour.
“It’s usually a very quiet neighbourhood here, so to see that contingent of police, it’s like, woah. That’s really unusual,” said Alan Holt, another neighbour who was told by police to stay in the front of his home during the incident.
Police say some other nearby homes were evacuated during the incident, which started around 3 p.m.
“I am about to be on the six o’clock news”
A woman who lives at the home says her husband of almost 20 years came home and was yelling and screaming incoherently. She says he threw his phone, pulled out a knife and threatened harm.
She called 911 and fled the property in her car. Not long after, she was called by a family member concerned about a social media post her husband had just put up.
It reads, “I am about to be on the six o’clock news. I have a rifle and a handgun. About to go down by cop. I am sorry to the cop that is going to shoot me.”
Shane Funk was nearby during the police arrest and captured some video of what unfolded.
“The gunfire was just a stun gun, apparently. The perpetrator walked out of there,” said Funk during a video.
Police say they got the man to come out of the home and took him into custody safely. They took him to the hospital.
The woman says her husband has struggled with mental health issues, especially since a vehicle crash four years ago.
She says he’s been in three different rehab facilities and to the psych ward at the Nanaimo hospital twice, which releases him days later, but she says the root causes of her husband’s issues are never treated.
She calls it a system failure and says that last night could’ve ended a whole lot worse.
Police today, after obtaining a warrant, searched the vehicles on the property and the home.
They were searching for weapons.
The man’s wife, herself feeling very stressed, is hoping this will lead to the care her husband desperately needs, as police incidents like this are not only very expensive but dangerous and extremely difficult on all involved.
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Kendall Hanson
