On July 17, 2017, at approximately 11:30pm, Portage RCMP received a report of a suspicious male and a white car in the driveway at a home on Oak Bay in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. Police attended and discovered a male inside the home was in possession of a firearm. Extra RCMP resources were immediately called in.
The RCMP Emergency Response Team (ERT), Police Dog Services and negotiators were called in shortly after 12am on July 18. Police say that there were four individuals inside the home and the number of firearms was uncertain. Police then tried to enter the residence, but barricades had been set up inside the home. Despite police instruction, nobody exited the home.
When police deployed tear gas, two female residents of the home, ages 25 and 16, exited the structure and were arrested by police. Two males inside the residence, both 27 years of age, barricaded themselves further. At this time, RCMP ERT forcibly entered the building and arrested the two males.
RCMP report that all four residents were treated for minor injuries that occurred during the course of incident. One male was transported to hospital and has already been released. No police officers were injured as a result of this incident.
“The RCMP thank the public for their cooperation in staying clear of the area while the events took place,” said Cst. Sean O’Keefe of the Portage la Prairie RCMP. “Public safety is our priority.”
Police note that one of the suspect males arrested had previously been known to police through events on July 15, 2017. The male was a suspect in a stolen vehicle investigation and it is believed that he stole a car from the same residence on Oak Bay. RCMP had been investigating the reported theft. A car matching this description was at the scene of an early morning gas theft at a gas station on the Trans-Canada Highway on July 17, 2017, and then the vehicle was at the Oak Bay residence when officers responded to the suspicious male report.
