Police in Nanaimo are commending two women for their actions during a home invasion last week.
The incident happened at about 10:30 p.m. Friday at a residence on the 2700 block of Labieux Road when the women discovered a man muttering incoherently and rummaging around in their home.
The women confronted the man, who left the residence, but then shortly after returned, kicked in the front door and proceeded to continue rummaging around the house.
The women, both their late 20s, locked themselves in a bedroom and called police.
Const. Gary O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman, said the suspect was sitting in the kitchen seven minutes later when police arrived and officers arrested him as he tried to leave the residence.
“We believe that alcohol and drugs may have been contributing factors,” O’Brien said.
No one was harmed in the incident, which police have determined appears to be a random occurrence and neither the women or the suspect are known to one another.
O’Brien said the suspect, whose identity hasn’t been released, is a 27-year-old man from a “community on southern Vancouver Island” who is well known to police.
O’Brien also went on to give the women kudos for the way they responded to the situation.
“They put a barrier between themselves and the suspect and stayed on the phone giving updates until police arrived, which is exactly what we want people to do,” he said.
The suspect is being held in custody until his appearance in provincial court in Nanaimo Tuesday, Feb. 5.
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