By Heather McNeill
A WA man has surrendered after a refusal to leave his house following a suspected domestic violence incident escalated into a 12-hour stand-off with police.
WA Police were called to the Heppingstone Road house in Brunswick, outside the South West town of Bunbury, around 10pm Sunday. The Tactical Response Group arrived Monday morning to assist with negotiations.
The man being arrested on Monday morning after allegedly refusing to come out of his house (inset) for 12 hours. Credit: ABC/9 News Perth
South West District Inspector Glen Willers said the man, aged in his 40s, eventually surrendered peacefully.
“We removed the victim from the house [around 10pm] and one male person remained in the house. As a result of what we were told, or advised at the time, we became concerned about firearms in the house and potentially explosives being in the house as well,” he said.
“[The man] was quite threatening when police originally arrived ... during the night he did come out a couple of times and made some threats to police.
“He had the opportunity to come out, but for many, many hours he decided to stay inside the house.
“We were very patient and in the end it took the TRG to resolve that through negotiations.”
Willers said the man owned two licensed firearms, but no shots were fired.
Significant police resources were involved including local police, specialist police from Bunbury, regional operations officers from Perth, the TRG and the bomb squad.
Neighbours heard police ordering the man out of the house using a megaphone on Monday around 9.30am.
He has been taken into police custody. The bomb squad is searching the house and making the area safe.
The man is not known to police.
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