Shots fired in Merritt armed standoff

Merritt RCMP were involved in a standoff in a residential area last night after a week of previous shootings and arrests. Social media photos and videos depict a tense situation as police responded to a home at around 6 p.m. yesterday, Nov. 20, in the 2600 block of Granite Ave. near...

Merritt RCMP were involved in a standoff in a residential area last night after a week of previous shootings and arrests.

Social media photos and videos depict a tense situation as police responded to a home at around 6 p.m. yesterday, Nov. 20, in the 2600 block of Granite Ave. near Fountain Tire in Merritt.

Nearby resident Brenda Karabelas said heavily armed officers surrounded a single house. She heard gunshots and saw tear gas fired at the house.

Her home is near the scene of the stand-off and she saw officers in backyards surrounding the scene.

"We did witness at one point ... the laser was going through one of the windows. You could see movement, people were scattering," Karabelas said.

She said police called out with a loud speaker that the house was surrounded and demanded the suspects to come out.

"They did that several times, but no one exited the building," she said.

She couldn't say when suspects were arrested or how many, believing they likely were removed from the front of the house.

Merritt RCMP has yet to respond to a request from iNFOnews.ca for information.

Kerabelas said she drove by the house this morning and noticed windows on all sides of the home were broken.

The standoff comes after multiple shootings last week, the first incidents on Tuesday, Nov. 15, taking place in three locations around the Merritt area.

It's not clear if or how a shooting on Nov. 18 or the others on Nov. 15 are related.

Kerabelas said she's been warned of several homes in her neighbourhood connected to the drug trade, and the recent spate of violence has her concerned for her safety.

"I lived on the coast before and I felt safer where I was in East Vancouver. It's not a shocker anymore," she said.

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