Update: Suspect in custody – Kingston Police ask Johnson St residents to shelter in place following weapons offence

Update (Wednesday, Jul. 21, 2021 at 3:25 p.m.)

Kingston Police have now provided more details on the seven-hour standoff that occurred on Johnson Street on the night of Tuesday, Jul. 20, 2021.

According to police, they received a report of a male with a firearm in the 1000 block of Johnson Street near Mowat Avenue at approximately 3:50 p.m. that day. Members of the Kingston Police Emergency Response Unit, General Patrol, and Canine Units all responded to the call and set up containment of the location.

“To address public safety concerns police blocked off Johnson Street between Yonge Street and Mowat Avenue to vehicular and pedestrian traffic,” Kingston Police said in a press release on the afternoon of Wednesday, Jul. 21, 2021.

Police said that, while containing the suspect, officers observed the accused man throwing two black handguns from the second storey window of the residence in which he’d barricaded himself.

“Both firearms, later revealed to be pellet guns, were realistic in appearance and resembled restricted handguns,” police said.

During the standoff, police attempted to make contact with the male in order to negotiate his surrender, however, these attempts went unanswered, police said, “leading to a lengthy containment.”

After obtaining a Feeney warrant to enter the residences, members of the Emergency Response Unit made way into the house, and the accused male was arrested and taken into custody. Police found the man to be breaching conditions of his court-imposed release order to not possess any firearms or weapons. The accused man was transported to Kingston Police Headquarters, where he was held to attend a bail hearing.

As a result, the 28-year-old Kingston man was charged with two counts of breach of probation.

No members of the public were injured during the course of this incident, police said.

Kingston Police were not able to say whether or not the accused man was remanded into custody at today’s bail hearing. According to Const. Ash Gutheinz, Media Relations Officer for Kingston Police, there are no further charges pending in this case, “as no restricted firearms were found at the scene, only the two realistic looking pellet guns.”

“The charges that were laid referred to the pellet guns, as possessing even these contravened his probation order,” he said.

Update (Wednesday, Jul. 21, 2021)

A single male is in custody following a lengthy standoff in the Calvin Park neighbourhood in central Kingston that had police asking area residence to remain indoors.

The incident began with what Kingston Police described as a weapons offence involving a firearm, which prompted police to close off a section of Johnson Street from Yonge Street to Mowat Avenue just after 5 p.m. The incident, according to police, took place in the vicinity of Mowat Avenue and Johnson Street.

“For the safety of the public anyone living in the immediate area is asked to remain inside their residence until further notice,” Kingston Police said on Twitter at 5:54 p.m.

Over the course of the next two hours, Kingston Police set up a perimeter of the area, and announced at 7:46 p.m. that they had contained the incident to a residence on Johnson Street near Mowat Avenue. At the time, police continued to ask those in the area to remain indoors.

While continuing negotiations with the male suspect, who had barricaded himself inside the residence in question, Kingston Police set up a mobile command unit on Johnson Street. Police drones were used in the area, and the Kingston Police Emergency Response Unit maintained a large presence in the immediate and surrounding area.

At approximately 12 a.m. on Wednesday, Jul. 21, 2021, Kingston Police announced that a male suspect was in custody, and that the situation had been resolved.

“Kingston Police would like to thank members of the public for their patience this evening & they can now resume their regular activities,” police said on Twitter.

Kingston Police are expected to release further details on this incident later today. Kingstonist will update this article as more information becomes available.

Original article:

Kingston Police are asking residents in the Johnson Street area to remain inside their homes as they respond to a serious incident in the area.

“Kingston Police are at the scene of a weapons offence involving a firearm in the 1000 block of Johnson St in the vicinity of Mowat Ave,” Kingston Police said in a statement. “Johnson St between Mowat Ave and Yonge St is currently closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic.”

Police ask that, for the safety of the public, anyone living in the immediate area remain inside their residence until further notice. More to come.