Man apprehended after allegedly throwing objects onto Vancouver’s Granville Street from window

A 48-year-old man was arrested and detained under the Mental Health Act after barricading himself in a Vancouver SRO to avoid police all day Tuesday.

The Vancouver Police Department closed a stretch of Granville Street surrounding the Regal Hotel for nearly 11 hours when officers first responded to reports of someone throwing items onto the sidewalk from a third-floor window around 11:30 a.m.

Const. Darren Wong tells CityNews that the thrown objects included pieces of concrete and glass.

He says no one was struck by any of the projectiles but there were “narrow” near misses.

“Coming in from a third floor window, I mean, it could have devastating results, especially for pedestrians,” said Wong.

The suspect reportedly barricaded himself in a room when police arrived.

The VPD says “more than 50 officers, including crisis negotiators and specially trained tactical officers from the Emergency Response Team” responded to the scene throughout the day.

Police say the man was wanted under the Mental Health Act at the time of his arrest and taken to hospital for treatment after 10 p.m.

Wong explains that the length of the operation was due in part to waiting for a judge to authorize a warrant to enter the suite.

“Our crisis negotiators were on scene, deploying their tactics to try to negotiate a surrender. In this case, he ultimately refused to come out.”

The incident, he says, had a “huge impact” on police resources for the day.

“Fifty officers during the day for one scene, for one block, means that we’re redeploying resources all there. So that means any other calls that are coming in during the day, they might not get met just because of everything happening downtown.”

Wong says the department will recommend charges against the man to the BC Prosecution Service.

—With files from Joe Sadowski