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Shots fired at police in Langford, man arrested after standoff

An agitated man fired two shots toward police from a handgun, without hitting anyone, before West Shore RCMP officers talked him into surrendering on Saturday evening.
Richard Watts
Photo - Police lights generic
West Shore RCMP are asking the public to avoid the area around Rona in Langford due to a “crisis situation.”

An agitated man fired two shots toward police from a handgun, without hitting anyone, before West Shore RCMP officers talked him into surrendering on Saturday evening.

The man, believed to be 36 years old, was arrested and officers recovered a weapon and were considering possible charges. The man’s name was withheld.

West Shore RCMP Sgt. Paul Reshaur said the original call come in at 5:20 p.m. of a man with a gun by the side of the road near the intersection of Veterans Memorial Parkway and Langford Parkway.

Officers arrived on scene and the man fired two rounds. After that, officers waited the man out, talked him down for about three hours, until he gave himself up about 8 p.m.

Traffic was rerouted and the area cleared of motorists until the incident was over.

Reshaur said throughout the incident the man was in a very agitated state. Sometimes he would put the gun down. Other times he would pick it up and wave it about.

Angela Gallagher of Victoria was in the back seat of a car with her daughter, driven by her mother, with her stepmother riding in the front passenger seat, on their way to Superstore in Langford when two police cars came alongside and stopped them.

“We actually thought at first they were pulling us over,” said Gallagher.

“Then one of the officers got out with their rifle, their super big guns.”

She said at that point they looked across the street and saw a man “just flipping out and waving his gun about.”

Then, the whole thing became terrifying when the man fired his gun twice at the police officers.

What followed was a horrifying hour, with the three women and the child all trapped, unable to move. Cars were lined up behind their car so they couldn’t back up, and police cars and the gunman were ahead.

Gallagher said she spent much of the time huddled down in the back seat, trying to shield her 22-month-old daughter, Madison, with her body.

At one point she declared she was getting out of the vehicle with her daughter and running for it. But her mother and stepmother convinced her that was a bad idea.

Eventually cars behind them managed to back up and drive over a median to get away until it was their turn.

Throughout the incident, Gallagher said, officers on the scene were absolutely brilliant with the public and the armed man.

“The Langford RCMP were just amazing and so good and so calm the whole time,” she said. “They just kept telling the man: ‘We are not here to hurt you, we just need you to put the weapon down.’ ”

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West Shore RCMP say one person is in custody after a standoff near the Rona store in Langford.

In a statement, Const. Alex Bérubé said officers took a 36-year-old man into custody shortly after 8 p.m., about three hours after the standoff started.

Bérubé said the area around Veterans Memorial Parkway and Meaford Road has been reopened. "There is no longer any risk to the public," he said.

Further details about the incident will be made available later, Bérubé said.

Few details are available, but West Shore RCMP said specialized police units including the Vancouver Island Emergency Response Team, the Police Dog Service and Crisis Negotiator Team, as well as B.C. Ambulance, were called upon for assistance.

Police had asked the public to avoid the area around Veterans Memorial Parkway, Jenkins Road, Jacklin Road and Station Avenue "to allow police to deal with this situation as safely as possible."

Veterans Memorial Parkway was closed between Jacklin Road and Meaford Avenue, but reopened about 9 p.m.

More to come

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