Man arrested in Souris standoff appears in court from jail

The 25-year-old man who surrendered to RCMP after a seven-hour standoff in Souris Friday night appeared in Charlottetown Provincial Court through a camera from jail on Monday.

Donovan Scott MacCaull, who is from the Souris area, is charged with possession of a weapon considered dangerous to the public. He's also charged with mischief, uttering death threats to police, as well asbreaching a court order related to theft charges from February.

The gun seized by police turned out to be a long-barrelled BB gun.

Monday in court, MacCaull said he didn't have a lawyer and doesn't want one. Judge Nancy Orr told him he faces serious charges and she strongly recommended he get a lawyer before his case is back in court next week.

RCMP responded to a 911 call late Friday afternoon to a home in Souris. They say there was a frantic woman outside, and officers could hear a man inside the home, smashing things.

Police were told the man inside the housewas armed, and through a window officers could see what appeared to be a long gun, said Kings District RCMP Sgt. Chris Gunn.

Police say the home belonged to a friend of MacCaull's.

RCMPcordoned off the area with help from the Souris Fire Department, and went door-to-door telling neighbours to stay inside. They delivered the same warning on social media.

"Wehad over 10 members at any given time at the scene doing different duties. And then of course as the standoff continued we got the resources from the emergency response team from New Brunswick," said Gunn.

As armed officers surrounded the building, trained negotiators spoke with MacCaull over a cell phone they delivered to him and eventually convinced him to surrender peacefully, Gunn said.

Heightened anxiety

Gunn said anxiety may have been heightened among neighbours given the tragedy in Nova Scotia April 19 when a gunman killed 22 victims. But hesaid RCMPofficers are trained to handlethese situations.

"It's normal to respond to these types of calls," Gunn said.

"We had multiple officers covering every exit of the home. We had control of the residence. If he decided to leave we had control. And we controlled any additional people going to the home."

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