Man charged with mischief after police standoff downtown

A St. Catharines man is charged with mischief, after the Niagara Regional Police tactical unit was called into downtown St. Catharines Saturday evening.

NRP Sgt. Steve Scriven said police initially responded to reports of a man armed with a gun on the sixth floor of the Leonard Hotel on St. Paul Street, and called in the tactical unit and closed several downtown streets from about 4:45 p.m. to 7:20 p.m.

Although road closures caused some traffic delays in the city, he said it was necessary to ensure public safety.

“Police made a full tactical callout because of the threat of a firearm. Once they set up their perimeter, they have the tactical guys and the negotiator.”

Although “there was a threat of a weapon” involved in the incident, Scriven said “there was no weapon found.”

Once it was confirmed that there was no firearm involved in the incident, he said the police response was scaled down.

“But it’s just the process of doing it step-by-step, the right way,” he said.

“It wasn’t as much of an incident as it sounded like because once there was no weapon found, it was just someone making threats of a weapon.”

The suspect was arrested with no injuries, Scriven said.

Scriven said the mischief charges stem from damage to the room at the Leonard Hotel, as well as the door of a police cruiser.

Brian Adshead, 41, is charged with mischief over $5,000 and mischief under $5,000.

He was also wanted on a previous warrant. For that he was also charged with uttering threats and three counts of breach of probation in unrelated incidents.

“It was one of those many cases we deal with, when people are under pressure and not handling things well,” Scriven said.

“That certainly is a big aspect of what we deal with on a daily basis.”