Winnipeg police said a 52-year-old man was found dead inside a residence after a 17-hour standoff that started Wednesday morning.
Officers were called to the 500 block of Stella Avenue around 10:45 a.m. on July 30. Around 3 a.m., Thursday the tactical police and paramedic teams found the man dead inside the residence.
Police said they had received a call Wednesday morning about a man, possibly armed, who had made threats to harm himself.
Police said they arrived on the scene and tried repeatedly to engage the man, who refused to leave the house.
“I can tell you that throughout the course of this evening, our main goal was to ensure constant communication with this individual to try and resolve this in a peaceful manner,” said Det. Sgt. Natalie Aitken from Winnipeg police.
Officers said at 8:20 p.m. Wednesday, shots were fired from inside the residence, leading to officers also firing their weapons in response. Nearby neighbours heard the shots.
“Four shots went off inside the house and that’s when things began (to get) a little bit crazy,” said resident Renae Houle. “We all had to duck, you know, because it escalated. It was pretty scary.”
Police said homes in the area were evacuated and residents taken to buses on nearby Powers Street.
Crews used a black sheet Thursday morning to block a stretcher they lifted into the coroner's vehicle.
Police also collected evidence in an area still blocked off by police tape.
Richard Churchill looked on from outside his nearby home.
He and his family didn't sleep all night.
At 6 p.m. Wednesday, he saw the tactical team approach a home in the area taped off by police.
He heard the windows break and then shots that seemed to come from inside the house and then saw the team back away from the home.
That's when police blocked off additional homes, including Churchill's residence, and asked people to stay inside.
Churchill said he heard shots fired several times between midnight and 4 a.m. and heard police calling to a man they called "Andrew" on the megaphone.
Churchill plans to pack up his family and move out of the neighbourhood this weekend.
He said the event has them on edge and they don't want to live there anymore.
Police said the deceased man has been identified as Andrew Baryluk, 52, of Winnipeg. No officers were injured.
Police are waiting on an autopsy and wouldn't say Thursday if Baryluk died from police gunfire or his own hand.
The call made to police that he was distraught and had access to guns came from someone who knew him.
Some officers have now been placed on administrative leave.
Neighbours said the man they knew as Andy lived in the home for years.
Carlito Devera said he was a friendly man who liked to share his homemade beer and she would regularly see him every day, cleaning his yard and pruning trees.
Neighbours said Baryluk's brother owned the home and was in the process of selling it, but Andrew didn't want to leave.
“Maybe that's what he locked himself in there, He doesn't want to leave the house, so he's really upset about his brother…selling the house,” said Devera.
City records show "John Baryluk" has owned the home for several years. Officers said Andrew Baryluk was "not known to police."
- with reports from Alesia Fieldberg and Meghan Roberts
