Arrest made after man seen with handgun in Hess Village
A man seen waving a loaded handgun around Hess Village early Tuesday faces several firearm charges after being Tasered during arrest, Hamilton Police said.
Officers were called to the entertainment district around 1:40 a.m., after door security at a bar reported a man in the street waving a weapon.
Police say the suspect had left Hess before officers arrived but was found in a nearby convenience store and took off running.
“During the pursuit, he tossed a bottle of Gatorade and hit one of the officers in the face,” said Staff Sgt. Frank Miscione.
Police say the suspect then tossed the weapon.
“It was a loaded 9 mm firearm,” Miscione said.
After a foot chase through an alleyway, officers deployed a conducted electrical weapon (CEW) and were able to arrest him.
The suspect, a 24-year-old whose last known address is in Toronto, was taken to hospital as a precaution to remove the CEW prongs.
“The loaded firearm was recovered,” Miscione said.
The man was to appear in court Tuesday.
Anyone with information is asked to contact detectives at 905-546-4861.
In an unrelated incident in Hess Village at the same time, police responded to a street brawl involving several women.
Two were pepper-sprayed and another was Tasered after what police are calling a consensual fight between parties. One woman was treated at the scene. Police say there were no other injuries and charges will not be laid in that case. “Alcohol was definitely a factor,” Miscione said.
In 2010, city council passed a bylaw that required Hess Village bars to hire as many as 10 paidduty officers on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights during the patio season to help control violence and rowdy behaviour.
Eventually, council agreed to share some of the costs and reduce the number of extra police officers.
In April, council agreed to use reserve funds to cover the $50,000 bill bars expected to pay for extra policing in 2018.
Longtime Hess proprietor Dean Collett argued the bylaw was “unfair” due to the shrinking pool of bars that stay open late on summer weekends.