Winnipeg police surround Windsor Hotel after reports of gunfire

Streets were closed off for hours around a downtown Winnipeg hotel Saturday while the police's armed tactical support unit responded to reports of gunfire from within the building.

Officers including the police's armoured vehicle were called to the Windsor Hotel on Garry Street around 2:45 p.m.

Garry Street was closed between St. Mary and York Avenues as a precaution after police found evidence a gun may have been fired, said police spokesperson, Const. Tammy Skrabek.

"When the tactical support unit is searching, we don't want a confrontation to take place where we might put somebody else in harm's way," she said, adding tactical officers cleared every floor of the three-storey building before reopening the street around 7 p.m .

"The search takes time, in any of these situations where you have a large building our tactical support unit will search area by area, and that means in this case, suite by suite."

"Until every section of the building was searched for people and firearms, we kept everything closed off."

Officers could be seen watching the building with guns drawn while the tactical support team made their sweep of the building.

Just after 4:40 p.m., police took one man into custody. After entering the building with their guns drawn, they emerged a short time later with a second man who was also taken into custody.

In all,Skrabek said three men were taken into custody for questioning, although no arrests had been made by later in the evening Saturday.

Skrabek said police did not recover a weaponandweren't able to confirm whether the damage to an electrical box found by officers was caused by a gunshot, or whether the damage had happened Saturday.

She said police are also looking into reports that power went out in the area around the time the gunshots were called in.

"The investigation will continue for a little while," she said.

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