An hours-long standoff with police continues tonight in north-end Barrie, leading to several homes and businesses being evacuated in the Bayfield Street area as a precaution.
Witnesses tell BarrieToday a gunshot was heard early on in the standoff behind shopping plaza near Heather Street.
Shortly after 6 p.m. on Tuesday, police said the standoff was ongoing. Crisis negotiators had been called in earlier in the day.
Bullet holes could be seen on the front windscreen of a recreational vehicle (RV) at the centre of the standoff.
Barrie police have said they received information around noon about a possible firearm in a vehicle in a parking lot on Bayfield Street, between Cundles Road and Livingstone Street.
Police said they made contact with the occupant of the vehicle and were working to arrange the safe apprehension of the individual.
No injuries have been reported, but nearby parking lots and homes have been evacuated "out of an abundance of caution," police say.
The Barrie police tactical support unit is on scene, along with uniformed officers.
Karen Rogers said she was in the plaza shortly before noon with her husband and her 84-year-old mother. While she was in a store, her mother and husband remained in their car, which was parked not far from the RV.
”All of a sudden all these cop cars came out of nowhere, the SWAT team, and everything, and surrounded them,” she told BarrieToday.
“They all jumped out of their cars and they took off down towards this RV … then a (was) shot fired,” Rogers added.
Her mother said she heard what may have been a bullet hit a light post near where they were parked, from a single shot they heard.
“And then they heard the cops yell ‘a shot, a shot's been fired!’ and then they were saying somebody’s name and saying ‘you’re surrounded, come out of the vehicle with your hands up,’” Rogers said.
The police told the barricaded person, whom Rogers described as a man, a few times that he was not going to be hurt, she added.
After leaving the area and returning home, Rogers said her mother had a shot of cognac to calm her nerves.
“When she thought that bullet seemed to ping right off the pole, it kind of put a little scare into them," she said.
Amanda White was also in the plaza at the time of the incident.
“I heard an officer tell a few others to go evacuate the houses behind FreshCo and the dollar store,” White told BarrieToday.
“An officer approached us to inform us we were in a dangerous spot because there was a shooter in the RV who has a gun that can shoot as far as where we were standing,” she added.
Karl Kennedy, who lives on Rosedale Place, behind the plaza, said he saw police running up and knocking on doors around noon. He left his home with little information or time to think.
“I heard loud bangs about 30 minutes before that, but I live near Bayfield Street, so I assumed it was trucks or car poppers,” he said.
Kennedy said the large, white RV which is at the centre of the investigation has been parked there behind the plaza for about a week.
An employee who works in a store across Bayfield Street at the Kozlov Centre told BarrieToday the same RV had been previously parked in the mall’s back lot.
In an updated news release at 6 p.m., Barrie police said uniformed officers, the tactical support unit and crisis negotiators remain on scene on Bayfield Street where a person was reported to be inside a vehicle with a firearm.
Police say they will be remaining on scene “as long as needed, with the primary focus being on the safety of the community, the individual and the officers.”
BarrieToday will provide an update as more information becomes available.
