ESTEVAN - The man who barricaded himself in a house in the 600-block on Fourth Street in Estevan on Tuesday is now being assessed at a hospital in Regina.
The nine-hour armed standoff ended peacefully, but the Estevan Police Chief Richard Lowen said the person was in mental distress and needed help.
The chief gave more details on what was happening on Fourth Street throughout the day Feb. 8. The call for service came in at about 9:40 a.m.
"In the morning, we received a call in regards to a domestic disturbance that had occurred. And when officers attended, there was an adult male who had barricaded himself inside the residence. And he was in a state of emotional distress and was displaying weapons through windows and that sort of thing. So our officers had to take a bit of a containment step and ensure that nobody else would be in danger. And then it was just a matter of trying to reach the individual inside and negotiating so that he could come out of his residence peacefully," Lowen said.
He added it was a completely strategic decision to allow for as much time as needed and negotiate the situation rather than force anything. The second person originally involved in the domestic disturbance case had left the house in the morning, and as there was no threat to any other people, the police took their time. However, the situation still was very intense.
"He was very incoherent in messages. It was clear that he was in some mental distress. The information that we had was that he was in there by himself, so he knew there was no danger to anyone else, which was why we were trying to negotiate with him," Lowen said.
"He did make threats to himself, he did make threats to officers on scene. And we had to make sure that we were patient, and make sure that we could have that dialogue so we could get them to come out of the residence. It just took some time, but in these sort of situations, time is in our favour when we know we can have that communication and just continue that dialogue."
The man would come out and go back in several times throughout the day. A letter from his brother was delivered to his door and other efforts were done to make him give up, but it wasn't until the evening that he surrendered.
The joint tactical unit for the Estevan Police and Weyburn Police Services were the main responders alongside the EPS general patrol members. The Estevan RCMP also was assisting with containment and negotiations. Estevan Fire Rescue Service and the City of Estevan were helping with blocking the affected areas.
"It was a joint effort by everyone local. And at the end of the day, we were also in touch with RCMP Regina. They were assisting us in some of the techniques that we use; as well we were preparing for them to have their emergency response team come for entry. But they weren't required, we were able to negotiate him out at the end of the day," Lowen said.
The negotiations were done by EPS members, but Lowen explained that if it would have come to a forced entry, the local law enforcement would have needed help.
"They have more resources for entry than we do. The entry is a lot more tactical and has to be a lot more carefully planned. We have a containment team in Estevan, which is able to contain the area and can do entry, but we just have to make sure that when we do it, we have all the resources available. And because we were going throughout the day, we had to start looking at how long our members were out in the environment to make sure that we were looking after our members as well," Lowen said.
After all, he said it was the negotiations that eventually succeeded. Time and continued conversation helped the person come out and give up peacefully.
"We were very happy when we had the conclusion that we did, a peaceful end," Lowen said.
The man was then transported to a hospital in Regina for further assessment of his condition. After that, it will be determined whether or not charges will be laid.
Lowen praised the joint effort and thanked everyone for helping.
"We're just very grateful for the assistance we had by all agencies and extremely happy that it ended peacefully," Lowen said.
