A man in his 20s who police said was in possession of a pellet gun inside the Edmonton Young Offender Centre on Sunday surrendered to authorities after hours of negotiations.
Police said they were called to the facility in northwest Edmonton by centre staff at around 3:45 p.m., after a man walked into the facility with a gun.
“They managed to confine the individual to the front vestibule of EYOC and kept him contained until we arrived,” Acting Staff Sgt. Scott Kruse with the Edmonton Police Service said.
“The investigation is still ongoing into what his exact motives were for arriving there.”
Police initially said the person was a youth, however later said he was in his early 20s. He was not an inmate of the facility, according to police.
While originally calling the weapon involved a gun, police said Monday night that they later determined it was a pellet gun (Crosman SNR357 snub nose revolver).
Kruse said staff in the immediate area were able to shelter in place. The remainder of the centre was locked down but not evacuated, as the area where the man was situated was “immediately secured,” according to police.
“I’m not sure if he made a statement or if there was just some very attentive individuals inside who saw the firearm initially,” Kruse said. “They did manage to lock the doors so he couldn’t proceed into the facility proper and they managed to contain him there, as well as locking the exit so he was kind of stuck there until we arrived.”
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Kruse said the man did not point the weapon at police or inside the facility. The man was emotional, but Kruse said police negotiators kept talking to him and eventually came to a peaceful resolution about three hours later.
“Once we arrived he didn’t make any demands as far as what he wanted or why he was there. He did a couple of times ask us to shoot him, that of course didn’t happen. But he was very emotional at times and again, we just kept talking to him — we were here for almost three hours — just engaging in discourse with this individual trying to get him to come to a peaceful resolution,” Kruse said.
“It’s a difficult situation to be in. We are trained to do that. We negotiate with any individual as best we can.”
No one was injured, according to police.
Police said that once the situation was resolved, they found 11 grams of cocaine, stolen identification and $8,800 in cash on the man.
In a news release issued Monday night, they said Mohamed Abdela-Alnur, 23, is charged with using an imitation firearm, pointing a firearm, possession of a weapon dangerous to the public, assault with a weapon, uttering threats, possession of stolen property over $5,000, three counts of possession of stolen identity documents with possession for the purpose of trafficking.
The Edmonton Young Offender Centre houses 12- to 17-year-olds with several levels of security, including open custody, secure custody and remand status.
The youth centre is located just north of the Edmonton Remand Centre.
Global News reached out to the office of the justice and solicitor general for more information, who said EPS was leading the investigation.
With files from Allison Bench and Kaylen Small, Global News.
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