An hours-long standoff with two suspects capped off a wild series of events involving a vehicle theft, an assault, and a crash into a hydro pole on Friday.
The incident began when VicPD officers were called to the 300-block of Gorge Road East for a report of a man stealing a vehicle.
Officers learned on scene that the owner of the vehicle had been alerted to the theft while it was in progress and attempted to stop the suspect.
The suspect assaulted the owner, and while attempting to flee in the stolen vehicle he collided with a hydro pole, causing significant damage.
The vehicle owner suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The suspect then fled to a temporary housing facility in the 300-block of Gorge Road East and barricaded himself in a suite.
The Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team (GVERT) was called to the scene along with crisis negotiators. After several hours, shortly after 8 a.m., negotiators convinced the suspect to surrender himself without incident.
However, a second suspect who was inside the suite at the time of the initial incident then barricaded himself in as well.
Police say the second suspect had earlier been restricted from being present at the facility as part of release conditions on a serious assault charge.
Hours after the first suspect had been taken into custody, shortly after 1:30 p.m., police arrested the second suspect.
Traffic was disrupted for hours while police worked to resolve the situation. At 1:32 p.m., VicPD said traffic would be returning to normal soon.
