Hillside N.S. man arrested after barricading himself in home with gun

HILLSIDE, N.S. — Pictou County RCMP arrested a person in distress, equipped with a gun, in his Hillside, Pictou County home Tuesday.

The Nova Scotia RCMP posted on social media that they were on the scene of an unfolding situation at Pictou Landing Road in Hillside on Sept. 12 at 6:36 p.m.

Chris Marshall, spokesperson with the RCMP, stated that a call came in of a person in distress who was a potential threat to themselves. Police believed he was in possession of a firearm.

“The person was inside the home alone; they weren’t a threat to anyone but themselves,” Marshall said.

Onlookers posted on social media that RCMP wielded their firearms in return — a situation that Marshall said was probable.

“They definitely would have had (in) that type of situation,” said Marshall. “Most of them probably would have had their carbines, which is the long rifle our front line members carry.”

When asked why firearms were deployed in this case, Marshall said it would’ve been a decision made by officers for their own protection. He also said deployed is different than drawn – deployed means they were on the officer’s person, but pointed at the ground.

“The only time a member would ever point a firearm is because there’s an immediate threat (that) has been presented,” said Marshall.

The decision to use a carbine rifle over any other type of self-defence depends on the situation, he continued. In this case, police deployed their rifles because they believed the man, barricaded inside his home, was also armed with a rifle.

“If you think about how if that person starts shooting through the windows at our officers, how are our officers going to respond? What tool are they going to use in order to try and respond to deal with the threat that is being presented to them so that nobody else gets hurt from a distance outside the house,” explained Marshall.

He added long guns are more effective at longer distances than a pistol, which he said officers would have potentially deployed if they were inside the home.

“There was no threat made to anybody outside the home,” said Marshall, adding officers surrounded the home and secured the area.

The 36-year-old man was taken into custody and then taken to the Aberdeen Hospital for mental health care. No charges have been laid against the man.