Kelowna – A 28-year old man remains in police custody after a dramatic arrest inside the mall early Friday night.

On January 29, 2016 at 6:05 pm, the Kelowna RCMP responded to several reports of a man yielding a knife inside a jewellery store at the Orchard Park Mall. As many as twenty police officers, including several members of our traffic units, quickly descended on the mall from all sides.

“Our officers effectively cleared the immediate area inside the mall of civilian shoppers for their safety,” said Cst. Jesse O’Donaghey, “while several police officers, some armed with carbine rifles, made verbal contact with the suspect who was still inside the store and still in possession of a steak knife.” adds O’Donaghey.

Investigators have determined that the emotionally disturbed man, who had been yelling incoherent sentences, had entered at least two of the stores inside the mall brandishing the knife to store employees and demanding the use of their phones to call 911. When confronted by officers the suspect failed to follow police commands to put down his weapon. Subsequently an officer deployed a Conducted Electrical Weapon (CEW or Taser), which had no effect due to the thickness of the suspects clothing.

After further negotiation with the suspect, he finally complied with police and put down the knife. He was then taken into custody without further incident.

Source: RCMP