EDMONTON — At first, Braeden Dover thought the loud popping sounds he heard were from a nail gun. But when a bullet blew through the window of the house he was working on, Dover and his co-worker ran for the basement.
Within minutes, police moved in and surrounded the house next door, and a tense standoff with a man inside began.
READ MORE: Man in critical condition with gunshot wound after standoff with police in Spruce Grove
Dover, a superintendent with Dolce Vita Homes, was inspecting a house under construction at 18 Garneau Gate in Spruce Grove Tuesday when the ordeal began.
“As I was about to walk in the door I heard a lot of loud popping noises,” Dover recalled Wednesday morning. There’s quite a bit construction in the newer neighbourhood, so he didn’t think much of it, assuming it was maybe someone working with a nail gun.
As Dover walked into the garage to meet his co-worker, they heard more popping sounds. But then bullets came through a nearby window.
“As we looked again one more came through and we watched it come right through the drywall and land on the floor. That was kind of the trigger to go downstairs right away and call 911.
“When we got down there and it actually set in that there was actually someone taking shots… It’s not something you see. It’s not your everyday thing.”
RCMP asked residents to stay in their basements as they worked to secure the situation.
“A potentially serious situation prompts that type of caution until we know what we’re dealing with,” RCMP Insp. Gibson Glavin said. “In this case, there was some serious nature to this.”
Two women were taken out of the home by police shortly after the area was secured. It was for their own protection, RCMP said Wednesday.
Officers said a man was inside the home with two long-barrelled guns. RCMP believe he was shooting from inside the home.
“Very concerning,” Glavin said. “Very high safety risk there so that indicates how quickly we needed to respond, get control of what was happening, know what was happening, keep people safe and then try and resolve it without anybody getting hurt.”
Officers were able to make contact with the man at about 6:20 p.m. He was arrested then taken to hospital with a gunshot wound. Glavin said he was in critical condition Tuesday night.
Glavin said officers are still working to determine how the man sustained the gunshot wound, but added that RCMP did not fire any weapons during the incident.
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