Seeing armed police officers throughout your neighbourhood isn’t something most people can imagine but that was the scene on Pinecrest Drive for much of the day Saturday.
“It’s not unusual for this place actually. This is probably the second time in two weeks,” said Kelly Beauchamp, who witnessed the whole incident from his door. “Another day on Pinecrest I guess.”
Officers descended on the area after getting a tip that someone they were looking for was in an apartment in the 100-150 block of Pinecrest Drive. Police won’t say who their suspect is or why they are wanted. The only thing they’ll confirm is that the individual has a warrant for their arrest.
It took three hours from when police officers first arrived on the scene until they finally entered the apartment building at 126 Pinecrest Drive.
“Depending on the information we have basically determines how we’re going to react and the information we had at that point in time dictated that we were going to do it very slow and try and reach out to the residents in the building,” said Staff Sgt. Andrew Matthews, Halifax Regional Police.
After searching the area, officers realized that the person they were looking for was no longer there.
Despite that, police say the heavy, armed presence was justified.
“We wanted to plan for the worst-case scenario in case something horrible happened and fortunately it didn’t and we didn’t need those resources but they were at their ready if we did,” said Staff Sgt. Matthews.
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The majority of residents, some of whom were locked out of their homes for eight hours, say police did a good job.
“I have no problem with the police trying to keep order and this is a bit of a rough area,” said Jane Cormier, who was in the process of moving during the lockdown.
“They actually did their job good,” said Karen Wilmot, a property manager on the street. “They kept everybody safe and things like this should not happen.”
“It only takes one crazy man with a gun to kill a lot of people, bystanders and whatever,” added Art Marshall, who was attempting to visit a friend in the neighbourhood when the lockdown occurred.
“I think there was a little bit too much police,” said Beauchamp, who lives next to the apartment building that police stormed. “They were all over the place. People were trying to get back into their houses and they had it all blocked off.”
“We appreciate their patience,” Matthews said of the neighbourhood. “We had officers working the crowd trying to explain to them what was going on, trying to keep them as up to date as we possibly could with the information that we had.”
Residents say the neighbourhood had been turning around — until recently.
“Years ago, this street was so bad you couldn’t even walk sideways here without somebody trying to jump you but lately it’s been good except for this last month,” said Wimot.
As for the search for their elusive suspect, Halifax Regional Police say that’s ongoing.
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