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Victoria police detain man after rooftop campsite standoff

Half-a-dozen Victoria police vehicles seen at Quadra and Johnson streets
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Police at the corner of Johnson and Pandora streets, following an incident involving a man camped on a Pandora Street rooftop on March 6. (Kiernan Green/News Staff)

Victoria police were called Sunday morning to an incident on a Pandora Street rooftop where a man appeared to be camping.

Around 10 a.m. Sunday (March 6), Victoria Police Department tweeted a report about the incident in the 900-block of Pandora Street, and claimed no risk to the public while asking the public to avoid the area. Half an hour later, at least six VicPD vehicles were seen parked at the adjacent corner of Quadra and Johnson streets, while two others made rounds of the block.

A resident of Rock Bay Landing’s transitional housing and a witness to the incident, who gave a false name, said the man on the Pandora Street rooftop was known to have been camping there. The witness said he saw a prolonged standoff between police on the ground and the man on the roof. He said the man appeared to be contemplating a 30-foot fall to escape, before instead descending the rear of the building. The individual then appeared to have been shot with a beanbag round, the witness said.

The man then ran into the performance hall at the corner of Quadra and Pandora streets, where he stood from a steeple window and heckled police before being taken into custody, the witness said.

At 10:30 a.m., a police officer at the scene said the man on the rooftop had been apprehended and taken to the hospital, and that the incident was resolved.

Black Press Media has reached out to VicPD for more information on the incident.

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Do you have a story tip? Email: kiernan.green@blackpress.ca.

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