Police respond to armed and barricaded incident, arson in Spence apartment

Two dozen people, including children, were evacuated from a Spence neighbourhood apartment block Friday after a suspect set fire to a suite while police responded to an armed and barricaded incident.

Officers responded to the building, located on the 600 block of Sherbrook Street at 10:15 p.m. after receiving a report that a man threatened a security guard with a knife, Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release Monday.

Police learned a woman had approached the security guard and told him one of her relatives assaulted her. She asked the guard to help her retrieve some of her property from a suite in the building.

“When the security member attended the suite, he was confronted by the accused, who was armed with a knife. He held the knife to the security person’s throat, and threatened to kill him,” the release said.

The security guard fled and phoned police, who dispatched a tactical team, drones and a K9 unit to the scene. The suspect set a fire inside the suite and filled the building with smoke, prompting the evacuation, police said.

Officers entered the burning suite and the suspect dropped his knife. The man was combative during the arrest and a use-of-force encounter occurred, police said.

Timothy Bret McKay, 24, is charged with arson with disregard for human life, assault with a weapon, assault and resisting arrest. He was detained in custody.