A young Victoria family is recovering from a harrowing experience with a man trying to elude Victoria police on Tuesday morning.
Officers were responding to a potential weapons-related call in the 2600-block of Dowler Place around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday (March 22), when they saw a man drop what turned out to be a loaded Glock pistol as he turned to walk away from them, a VicPD release stated. The man fled towards nearby townhouses, while the officers called for backup and gave chase.
The man entered a random unit where a couple and their two children were home at the time.
Police say the fleeing man pushed the woman in a hallway and wound up in a fight with the children’s father, who had been in the kitchen. The mother gathered herself, took her youngest nearby child and fled through a first-floor window where she handed off the first child, then returned to collect her other child from an upstairs bedroom while the two men fought.
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The intruder, thrown into the yard through a back door, jumped over a fence into a neighbouring backyard.
Initially police held the home defender at gunpoint, having encountered him first in the townhome’s backyard. After being directed to the next yard over, officers located the previously armed suspect and took him into custody at gunpoint, without further incident.
The suspect was transported to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries received during the indoor fight. The couple and their children were not hurt.
Anyone with information can contact VicPD at 250-995-7654, ext. 1, or report anonymously to Greater Victoria Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
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