A standoff in Mount Pearl came to a peaceful end Tuesday evening when the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary’s tactical response team forced their way into the home at 17 Jersey Ave. and arrested Justin Wiseman.
Wiseman, who was involved in the 2014 riot at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary in St. John’s, and who was involved in an armed standoff on Springdale Street in St. John’s in 2013, was holed up inside the home for six hours before the arrest was made.
The standoff ended shortly before 7 p.m. Tuesday when police stormed the house.
“Ultimately, our officers did have to forcefully enter the home when it came to our attention that a fire had been started inside the home,” said RNC spokesman Geoff Higdon.
RNC officers brought Wiseman out of the house, and paramedics put him on a stretcher. Wiseman could be heard bellowing as the stretcher was put into an ambulance. He left the scene in the ambulance with a police escort.
Wiseman was wanted for a parole warrant, and earlier Tuesday afternoon police received information that he was seen in the Jersey Avenue area. They soon located the home and obtained a warrant to enter.
“However … there were other individuals in the home, so for the safety of those individuals, as well as the gentleman that we were aiming to arrest, as well as the general public, our officers … employed other resources to make sure that everything ended here safely today,” Higdon said.
Throughout the course of the afternoon, RNC officers spoke with Wiseman through the front doorway. At one point, he came out onto the front step and yelled at police with his hands in the air, saying he’d be out in 20 minutes and wanted to have a smoke.
Two women also emerged from the home in the afternoon with their hands up. They were searched, cuffed, arrested and placed in a police car.
Around 6:30 p.m., a third woman left the house and was taken into custody. Shortly after that, smoke was seen coming out of the house and police then entered the home.
Earlier Tuesday, there was an armed robbery at a Marie’s Mini Mart on the corner of Ruth Avenue and Moores Drive in Mount Pearl.
Higdon said police are investigating both the robbery and the standoff, but can’t say for sure if the two are linked.
“Our criminal investigation division is working diligently on both matters, and at this time we can’t say for sure what involvement or connection that this individual may have had with that.”
Troubled past
Tuesday’s standoff was not a first for Wiseman.
In May 2013, he was holed up inside a house on Springdale Street with a shotgun when he was suspected of committing an armed robbery. That armed standoff with police lasted nearly nine hours.
In November 2013, Wiseman pleaded guilty to 17 charges, including weapons offences and two counts of armed robbery.
In November 2014, Wiseman was convicted for playing a role in the chapel riot at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary.
The riot was caught on surveillance camera, and showed inmates attacking convicted killer Kenny Green with homemade knives and pieces of a broken church pew.
Wiseman pleaded guilty for his role in the riot and was sentenced to just under seven months, although a part of that sentence was related to an earlier incident of property damage to his cell.
