Manitoba RCMP confirm two men are in custody after armed suspects barricaded themselves inside a Portage la Prairie, Oak Bay home.
Police provided an update on the situation at 1:15 p.m. in Portage la Prairie.
Just after 9 a.m., RCMP tweeted the “scene is secure” but the investigation is still ongoing.
RCMP said the incident started Monday night at approximately 11:30 p.m. Officers responded to reports of a suspicious male and a white car in the driveway of a home on Oak Bay. The officer who responded found an armed man inside the home.
The RCMP Emergency Response Team (ERT), Police Dog Services and negotiators were then called in just after 12 a.m. Tuesday.
RCMP said there were four people inside the house and “the number of firearms was uncertain.”
WATCH: Manitoba RCMP speaking about standoff in Portage la Prairie
Officers tried to get inside the residence but it had been barricaded.
Police then deployed tear gas and two women, aged 25 and 16, left the house and were arrested.
Two 27-year-old men remained in the house and “barricaded themselves further”, according to police.
The RCMP ERT then forced themselves into the house and arrested the men.
Police seized one firearm from inside the home.
READ MORE: Armed suspect injured and apprehended by RCMP in Portage la Prairie, Man.
All four people who were in the house were treated for minor injures.
The two females were released from custody and were being treated as witnesses and “possibly victims” by police. The two men remain in custody.
Police said one of the men was a suspect in a stolen vehicle case involving the home where Tuesday morning’s incident happened.
Police said a car matching the description of the stolen vehicle was at the scene of a gas theft at a gas station on the Tran-Canada Highway Monday morning.
When officers responded to the reports of a suspicious man, the stolen vehicle was in the Oak Bay home’s driveway.
Global’s Skyview-1 helicopter shows what appears to be a significant amount of debris scattered around the front of the home.
“They used that machine, the big truck. They rammed the house and destroyed the house and they threw the gas bombs in there and finally, at the end, they rushed in with the dogs and a bunch of the SWAT guys went in there,” Ruby Whitford, who lives nearby, said.
At around 7:15 a.m., RCMP tweeted there was be a heavy police presence in the Oak Bay area of the city.
Officials confirmed it was an armed and barricaded situation, asking people to seek shelter and not move from their location.
They were also asking residents in the area not to post anything about what they’re seeing on social media until the situation is resolved.
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