A man has been arrested for a weapons-related offence after a dramatic afternoon.
Squamish RCMP and the Emergency Response Team safely took the man into custody and cleared the area around Diamond Head Road, which was closed for most of the afternoon, police said in a news release Tuesday evening.
Cpl. Angela Kermer of the Squamish RCMP said in a press conference that at about 3 p.m. on Sept. 28, a man with a gun was chasing a young boy.
Local residents were asked to stay locked in their homes as a heavy police presence moved in.
The man and child are related, but police were not saying how.
RCMP had the situation contained by dinnertime, with the man surrounded in a home.
By that time, the child was safe, police said.
Kermer said that the RCMP Emergency Response Team was leading the situation.
While he was in the house, officers were in contact with the man.
There were no injuries, and no shots were fired.
Businesses in the area were not asked to close, Kermer said.
Nikki Rotmeyer lives adjacent to the house where the police had the suspect surrounded.
She said she was watching TV in her living room at about 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon when she saw red and blue lights outside her window.
"I literally had a front-row seat," she said.
After the lights, Rotmeyer looked out and saw an RCMP officer blocking the road.
When her partner approached the officer about what was going on, they were told stay in the house, as the area was not safe.
"We were thinking a bear," said Rotmeyer.
But she soon discovered from social media and news reports that more was going on, so she alerted her neighbours.
Before the man was arrested, Rotmeyer heard what she described as "flash-bang grenades" go off.
There was a spotlight shining on the house in question as well, she said.
"That was after [police] had been saying, 'Come out! Come out!' They were running their sirens and saying, 'Come out with your hands up,'" she said, adding there was also the sound of at least one dog barking.
She then heard police yelling, "Put your hands up," she said.
"It was scary."
She wishes those in the immediate area had been given more information, she said.
**Please note, this story has been updated several times as the situation developed.
