A seven-day standoff between police and an armed man barricaded in an eastern Newfoundland home came to a peaceful end.
Leo Crockwell was taken into police custody around noon Saturday.
Crockwell, 55, had been barricaded in a house in the small community of Bay Bulls, south of St. John's since last Saturday, after the RCMP received complaints he had threatened family members. He was wanted on a warrant for charges that include assault with a weapon, assault, careless use of a firearm, unauthorized possession of a firearm, using firearms in the commission of an offence and mischief.
Although he does not have a criminal record, police said they had been treading carefully because of Crockwell's "history of violence" and insistence he would not surrender.
"He is intent on not being arrested easily," RCMP Sgt. Boyd Merrill said in an interview Saturday morning, hours before the standoff ended.
During the course of the 7-day standoff, members of the RCMP tactical unit attempted communicating with Crockwell a number of different ways.
When a police robot attempted to deliver letters and a phone to the house, it came under fire. Crockwell also fired shots at police officers who tried to approach the house overnight Wednesday. No one was injured.
Exhausting a list of "everything tactically possible," police also used bullhorns and police vehicle loudspeakers, set off noisemakers and even tried flooding the house with light.
Police started flooding the residence with water cannons and cut power to the house Friday.
According to Merrill, the idea was to render the house "as uncomfortable as possible" in the hopes Crockwell could be compelled to leave or simply talk to police.
But, for the duration of the week-long standoff, their attempts failed.
According to Sgt. Merrill, police were not interested in doing anything that might suddenly escalate the situation, even if it meant allowing the standoff to stretch beyond a week.
"That's how long it takes to do something properly," Merrill said. "We are in no hurry to get the public hurt, our members hurt or to hurt Mr. Crockwell."
While curious residents of the community 30 kilometres south of St. John's have been paying occasional visits to the area, many saw their lives disrupted by the week-long standoff.
Besides a police cordon that blocked access at every roadway leading to the site of the standoff, the community's post office and grocery store were closed.
