“An officer approached us to tell us we were in a dangerous place because there was a gunman in the RV who has a gun that can shoot up to where we were standing,” says witness; The call on Bayfield Street came into police around noon on Tuesday
An hours-long standoff with police continues tonight in the northern part of Barrie, prompting the precautionary evacuation of several homes and businesses in the Bayfield Street area.
Tell witnesses BarrieToday early on, a shot was heard in the standoff behind the shopping plaza near Heather Street.
Shortly after 6pm on Tuesday, police said the standoff was ongoing. Crisis negotiators were called in earlier in the day.
In the middle of the standoff, bullet holes could be seen in the windshield of a recreational vehicle (RV).
Barrie police say 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 had contacted the occupant of the vehicle and were working to arrange for the person’s safe apprehension.
No injuries were reported, but nearby parking lots and homes were evacuated “out of an abundance of caution,” police said.
The Barrie Police Tactical Support Unit is on scene, along with uniformed officers.
Karen Rogers said she was at the square shortly before noon with her husband and her 84-year-old mother. While she was at a store, her mother and husband remained in their car, which was parked not far from the RV.
“All of a sudden all these police cars came out of nowhere, the SWAT team and everything, and surrounded them,” she said BarrieToday.
“They all jumped out of their cars and took off towards this camper … that’s when a shot was fired,” Rogers added.
Her mother said she heard a single shot as a bullet hit a light pole near where they were parked.
“And then they heard the police shouting, ‘One shot, one shot fired!’ and then they said someone’s name and said, ‘You’re surrounded, get out of the vehicle with your hands up,’” Rogers said.
Police told the barricaded person, who Rogers described as a man, several times that he would not be hurt, she added.
After leaving the area and returning home, Rogers said her mother drank a shot of brandy to calm her nerves.
“When they thought the bullet seemed to come straight out of the post, they got a little scared,” she said.
Amanda White was also in the square at the time of the incident.
“I heard an officer tell a few others to evacuate the houses behind FreshCo and the dollar store,” White said BarrieToday.
“An officer approached us to tell us we were in a dangerous place because there was a gunman in the RV who has a gun that can shoot up to where we were standing,” she added.
Karl Kennedy, who lives on Rosedale Place, behind the square, 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 half an hour before, but I live near Bayfield Street so I assumed it was trucks or car poppers,” he said.
Kennedy said the large, white RV at the center of the investigation has been parked behind the plaza for about a week.
An employee who works at a store across Bayfield Street in the Kozlov Center said BarrieToday the same camper was previously parked in the back lot of the shopping center.
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 with a firearm was reportedly in a vehicle.
Police say they will remain on scene “as long as necessary, with the primary focus on the safety of the community, the individual and the officers.”
BarrieToday will provide an update as more information becomes available.