Man finally arrested after six-hour Darwin CBD high-rise siege
VIDEOS: A man who sparked a six-hour, high-rise siege in Darwin’s CBD has been plucked from a balcony by Tactical Response Group officers in a cherry picker, arrested and put in the back of a paddy wagon. WATCH OUR VIDEOS HERE
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UPDATE:
THE man who sparked a six-hour siege in Darwin’s CBD has been plucked by TRG officers in a cherry picker and put in the back of a paddy wagon.
The man earlier had been throwing bottles and at one stage became stuck in a small hole in the wall next to his alcove.
The man at the centre of a siege that has been going for more than six hours has been arrested by TRG officers @TheNTNews pic.twitter.com/pGXcgyO4RJ
— Will Zwar (@zwar_w) October 29, 2020
UPDATE: The situation at the Luma Luma hotel — where a man has been involved in a high-rise stand-off with heavily armed officers for more than five hours — has dramatically escalated.
The man at the centre of the siege has thrown a ladder — placed by police against the edge of the brick alcove the man has been pacing — away from its edge and back down to the ground.
He has also thrown a rum bottle at a fire truck.
The man then began screaming “motherf*cker”, and other obscenities, before jumping on the ledge of the alcove and yelling at police and onlookers.
Tactical police officers wearing camouflage and wielding riot shields are on the scene, along with scores of other NT police officers, firefighters and ambulance officers.
A negotiator — backed up by a tactical officer holding a rifle and wearing full camouflage — has been attempting to talk the man down from a balcony above the alcove he is in on the side the building.
Officers were at one stage forced to pull back from the balcony’s edge to dodge a projectile hurled by the man.
Emergency services are at the scene of a major siege, with at least one officer injured, in Darwin's CBD @TheNTNews pic.twitter.com/GFCYS0TSKF
— Thomas Morgan (@thomasmorgan22) October 29, 2020
Incident controller Wayne O’Neill the man was “belligerent” during the start of the stand off, but was now talking with the negotiator.
“He started to climb across all the balconies into the current position he is sitting in,” Mr O’Neill said.
“We have him in, for want of a better word, in a corner.”
The NT News has been told police chased the man through the Darwin CBD before he fled into the Luma Luma apartment building on the corner of Knuckey and Wood Sts.
A police spokesman said the man was armed with a backpack full of bottles, which he then turned into projectile weapons.
The spokeswoman said police were called out to a domestic violence incident and that there was someone known to him inside the apartment building.
She said one officer from dog squad received “an abrasion to the head” when he was reportedly hit with one of the bottles.
The man started throwing more bottles once he spotted a drone being used to surveil him, she said.
A guest staying at the Luma Luma came face to face with the man now at the centre of a siege at the Darwin CBD building.
Brad Green, 30, described the man as “a real life spiderman” as he scaled the building in a desperate attempt to avoid arrest.
“I was having a smoke and just got onto the phone my boss.”
“He scaled the balcony and pushed past me into my room, and police were on the balcony underneath him.”
“They were asking me where he was, and he was right in my face begging me not to say anything.”
“I pointed to him to the police and he scaled off my balcony onto the room beside me.”
EARLIER UPDATE: A police officer has been hit in the head by flying bottles in a siege that is unfolding in Darwin’s CBD.
The NT News understands a man allegedly fleeing arrest has jumped into a crevice on the facade of the Luma Luma Hotel.
Witnesses say the man climbed across two apartment balconies before climbing into the alcove above the driveway.
It is understood police dogs were dispersed through the building to find the man
Police first attended the scene around 11am to make an arrest, which has now escalated into a fully-blown siege.
Guests at the Luma Luma Holiday Apartments have now disappeared from their balconies and crowds have been ushered away from parts of Woods Street.
Crews from police, fire, critical care paramedics and Power and Water are now on scene.
Bottles are being thrown across the street by the man at random intervals.
The man has been seen throwing bottles at emergency services and gathering locals.
Multiple police officers are trying to get the man down from the burrow, both on the ground and on balconies.
Crowds have gathered both on the street and on other balconies of the complex.
A bloodied police officer was seen receiving medical attention, with another officer saying the man had been hit by a projectile bottle.
EARLIER: A MAJOR police incident is unfolding at a Darwin CBD apartment building.
The NT News understands at least 10 police cars as well as fire crews and St Johns ambulance crews are at the incident outside the Luma Luma Apartments building on Woods St.
It is understood a man hiding in a pot pant appears to be throwing glass at police, with one police officer reportedly being hit with a glass bottle.
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A spokeswoman from NT Police described it as a mental health incident.
She said there was no threat to the public with road blocks in place as a precaution.
The NT News understands police are on at least two levels of the apartment building.
More to come
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