Update March 6: RCMP said Wednesday that Monday's incident on Highway 16 near Delmas has resulted in the arrest of a 37-year-old man with the assistance of the Saskatchewan Critical Incident Response Team.
Battlefords RCMP had received a report of an armed individual travelling in a vehicle in North Battleford at approximately 1 p.m. Monday. Battlefords RCMP and surrounding detachments worked to locate the male, leading them to Highway 16 near Delmas.
The suspect has been charged with five firearms-related offences, three counts of uttering threats and one count of resisting arrest and was to appear in court in North Battleford Wednesday.
RCMP say there were no injuries to members as a result of the incident.
Original story March 4: A police incident near Delmas closed the Yellowhead Highway, which is also known as Highway 16, in both directions between Lloydminster and the Battlefords for hours on Monday.
Readers sent photos and video to SASKTODAY.ca and said that the traffic was affected starting at about 2:45 p.m. Monday afternoon and was still ongoing Monday night at about 10 p.m.
“Everyone was saying it was just an accident because that’s what the highway hotline was saying but it certainly wasn’t an accident,” a reader told SASKTODAY.ca.
“There was a black truck in the ditch and a tow truck and two police vehicles when I got to scene. They had their guns drawn and point down into the ditch at the black truck. Nine more police vehicles arrived shortly after and they started running over with rifles and shotguns and hand guns drawn. I thought for sure there was going to be a shootout and I had front row seats about 200 yards away from the scene. I was hoping the matter would have been resolved while I sat there and waited. I waited for two hours before backing down the highway and taking a back road around the scene. The kids were getting very impatient and just wanted to go home. Sadly, I missed out on the outcome.
“I even saw that one officer running to take cover behind the cruiser slipped and fell right on his face with his rifle in his hand, just fell flat on his face,” added the reader, who didn't want to be identified.
A couple of readers also said that the incident appeared to be an armed standoff between RCMP officers and someone. This hasn't been confirmed with police. SASKTODAY has reached out to Saskatchewan RCMP Media Relations early Tuesday morning. They said they are looking into the incident and will get back to SASKTODAY.ca
Readers also said that traffic was rerouted through the town of Delmas.
Story updated to say RCMP say they are looking into the incident.
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