Men lock themselves in home following high-speed chase

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This article was published 27/08/2017 (3125 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A nine-hour standoff ended peacefully Saturday after two men barricaded themselves in a home following a high-speed chase.

The incident began about 10:45 a.m. when police went to a home in the 500 block of Sherbrook Street to execute a search warrant in connection with a drug and firearms investigation.

Before they could serve the warrant, police noticed the man they were looking for driving a truck in the area with a passenger beside him. Police attempted to stop the vehicle, but it fled, hitting a cyclist at Arlington Street and Logan Avenue and then crashing into a taxi before driving off.

“He kept going. He did not care,” said Const. Jay Murray.

The truck was found soon after abandoned in a back lane on the 1400 block of Magnus Avenue. After leaving the truck, the suspects entered into a family’s home to hide. Police believe the 33-year-old driver had met the homeowner once in the past through a mutual friend, but say they were “relatively unknown.”

A two-block area was closed down and police deployed “significant” resources to the area. It is not known how many people were home at the time, but it is believed children were present.

“It’s very alarming to think what the children would of gone through. You can imagine how traumatizing this would be for the homeowner and his family to have two individuals — one unknown and one relatively unknown — barge into the house and have police surround the house,” Murray said.

Not long after the standoff began, the 22-year-old man who had been the passenger in the truck ran out of the home and was arrested. It was determined he was wanted on a Canada-wide arrest warrant for a parole violation.

The family in the home was safely evacuated, but the remaining suspect — who police believed was armed — refused to leave. The home was surrounded and police deployed an armoured vehicle to the area.

After repeated attempts to get the suspect to leave the house, members of the tactical support team entered the residence and arrested the man.

“We did have information that indicated that both of them would of been armed,” Murray said.

Both men are facing a number of charges and the investigation into the incident is ongoing. So far, no guns have been located and the search warrant executed on the 500 block of Sherbrook Street turned up only minor drug paraphernalia.

Neither suspect has gang affiliations, but both were known to police, Murray said.

The accused remain in custody.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca