A woman was taken into custody by Victoria police early Thursday morning after an incident, which began with a break and enter in the 1300-block of Broad Street.
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Shortly after 1 a.m. an alarm at a business went off. As officers responded a woman fled the scene and a police dog was deployed to help locate her.
According to police, the woman broke into two separate suites in a nearby residential building in the 1300-block of Douglas Street. While she barricaded herself inside the second suite, she discharged a fire extinguisher and pulled the fire alarm that resulted in many of the building’s residents being evacuated.
A loud distraction device — which led to reports of an explosion in the area — was used to get the woman out of the building after attempts to negotiate with her by the Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team failed.
Douglas Street was closed for several hours between Johnson and Yates streets as the suspect refused to come out of the building.
Douglas Street is now open after one person was taken into custody following a report of a break & enter. Douglas was closed earlier this morning when the suspect refused to come out after being located by officers. #yyjtraffic is back to normal. #yyj
— Victoria Police (@vicpdcanada) February 6, 2020
The woman requested she be taken to hospital, but was found to have no injuries and was later released into police custody. Victoria police are recommending multiple counts of break and enter charges, along with mischief. The woman was held in custody to await morning court.
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kendra.crighton@blackpress.ca
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