One man was taken into custody Thursday night after barricading himself in the stairwell of a building on Johnson Street in Victoria.
Just before 9:30 p.m., VicPD police were called to a residential building in the 800-block of Johnson Street for a report that a man had entered the building and was destroying property. The man was not a resident of the building, police said.
Multiple officers attended and located the man, who had barricaded himself in a stairwell in the building. Police said officers began negotiations with the man and used “critical incident de-escalation techniques in efforts to resolve the incident and take the man into custody safely.”
According to police, the man continued to damage property and would not co-operate with the officers.
The Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team, including crisis negotiators, and a VicPD K9, also responded.
Police said after crisis negotiators’ attempts to resolve the incident failed, GVERT officers used pepper spray (oleoresin Capsicum spray), along with ARWEN less-lethal munitions, to take the man into custody. The man was apprehended under the Mental Health Act. He was taken to hospital by BC Emergency Health Services paramedics for assessment, where he was held.
VicPD are recommending charges of mischief. Police say the incident is still under investigation.
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