Three arrested as police surround home after shooting
Tactical police used a battering ram to break down the door of a home at the centre of a tense sixhour standoff in northeast Edmonton Thursday that began after a man was shot and ended with the arrest of three people.
Officers arrived at the residence near 76 Street and 127 Avenue at 8 a.m. after receiving reports of a shooting in the Balwin neighbourhood. On arrival they found a victim suffering a serious guninflicted injury.
After rushing the 40-year-old shooting victim to hospital, police surrounded the property. At around 9:15 a.m. a woman left the home and was arrested.
Unsure of the number of people still in the house, the Edmonton Police Service’s tactical team was called in and used everything in their armoury to secure the scene.
Police used flashbangs, a bomb disposal robot, another smaller robot and a canine unit to try to flush out occupants who were believed to be armed.
After first busting down the door using a military-style armoured vehicle, it was again used to tear a piece of plywood from the front window to allow tactical members sight lines inside the home.
Shortly after 1 p.m., police arrested a male who had exited the home and about an hour later a woman was led away in handcuffs and arrested. By 3:30 p.m. the last of the barricades had been removed and neighbouring residents, who had been unable to access their homes during the standoff, were allowed to return.
One of those neighbours, Blake Smith, said the property at the centre of the standoff had been a problem for years with a slow and steady trickle of problem tenants.
“There is always an issue with this house,” he said. “It’s just been one issue after the other.”
Smith said police had told his wife and son to stay in the home and other neighbours were told to get in their basements if possible.
Edmonton Police Service spokesperson Cheryl Voordenhout confirmed that the property was “known to police.”
Charges against the three people arrested are pending, Voordenhout said.
The shooting victim has since been released from hospital.