BC

A six hour stand-off with police in Kamloops ended peacefully when a 30-year-old man finally surrendered late Saturday night.

The RCMP reports the distraught man barricaded himself inside his home on Spruce Street, where he had access to several hunting rifles.

The incident began around 5:45 p.m. Saturday when police received a domestic dispute call from the man’s wife who reported her husband was distraught due to marital and financial issues and had stated he was going to commit suicide.

The woman told police her husband was in the bedroom with a gun and that she was gathering up the six children in the house at that time and was immediately leaving the residence.

The children were a mix of family members and their friends.

Upon arrival, four officers entered the house and after ensuring no innocent people were still inside, tried to convince the man come out of the bedroom unarmed.

In the meantime, a tight cordon was set up around the residence while additional officers began evacuating nearby homes.

During the course of negotiations, the suspect threatened to force the on-scene officers to shoot him by approaching them with a knife.

Instead of confronting the man, the officers inside the residence left the home before continuing negotiations over the telephone into the evening hours with little headway being made.

Just before 11:00 p.m., a decision was made to deploy the RCMP Emergency Response Team from Kelowna, however around 11:20 p.m., the police negotiator succeeded in talking the suspect into leaving his house unarmed.

He was arrested without incident by heavily armed police on the perimeter and was subsequently taken to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops for an assessment of his physical and emotional well being.

Later, police found several hunting rifles owned by the suspect inside the house.

The RCMP says formal charges have not been laid at this time and the man has no previous history with police.