Police tackle armed man menacing mall shoppers

Ottawa police say officers armed with rifles tackled and arrested an armed man who was accosting people at a local mall Sunday during the peak of pre-Christmas shopping.

Police safely arrested and disarmed the man, who has not been identified, at Billings Bridge Shopping Centre after the incident at the mall and a nearby McDonald’s restaurant around 5 p.m. A firearm was recovered.

No shots were fired and no one was hurt, said police, who issued an alert “to allay any public concern.”

The incident began with a dispute between two people near the mall.

Then the suspect made his way to the shopping centre, police said.

There he is alleged to have told a number of people he had a firearm and showed it while threatening them.

A store employee called 911 to say he saw a firearm on the person, sparking the police response.

“Obviously a number of people in the mall were quite frightened, seeing five or 10 police officers tackling a person and not knowing what happened,” Sgt. Peter Van Der Zander said.

“This person had a weapon on him and had accosted a number of different people.”

Ultimately he was tracked down near a drugstore in the mall.

Shopper James Grant Porter, 55, was sitting on a mall bench outside the pharmacy when he saw the man from behind as he was being tackled by police near the exit from the Independent.

“Tonight was pretty unreal,” said Porter, who saw police, rifles drawn, run into the mall through the main and grocery store entrances.

“It was a matter of seconds they got him down.

“Nobody got hurt. They said, ‘If you don’t calm down, you’re going to end up getting shot.’ ”

The weapon he had is now in police custody along with the accused, Van Der Zander said.