Oak Bay Police continue to search for an armed man who threatened a 60-year-old resident Sunday afternoon.
Officers were called to the 3200 block of Exeter Road at around 12:30 p.m. on March 1 for a report of a man threatening a woman with a handgun.
Police say the man walked up Ripon Road from Beach Drive and passed the woman gardening. He stood on the sidewalk holding a bright yellow cellphone. When the victim turned away, the man approached her, produced a handgun and made a threat.
The victim and the man struggled, with the victim holding onto the weapon and yelling for help while hitting him repeatedly with her garden tool. When the victim’s husband came from around the house, the man left back toward Beach Drive.
“As soon as the call came in we shut down the area for a few blocks,” said Deputy Chief Kent Thom. “We found some people in the municipality but we were able to eliminate them as suspects.”
Members of the Oak Bay Police Department as well as the Saanich Police Department were on scene within minutes. Beach Drive between Lansdowne Road and Ripon Road was shut down to all traffic for about 20 minutes as police deployed a police dog unit to search the area.
“We’re going to be continuing with the investigation (Monday) and part of that will be contacting our intel people … within the CRD,” Thom said.
The suspect is described as clean-shaven, around 40 years old and five-foot-10-inches tall, wearing a dark hoody, pants and shoes and carrying a yellow cellphone. The victim was not physically injured.
“We have no idea what the motivation was because there was very little contact between the complainant and the suspect,” Thom said.
“It’s very fortunate that it worked out the way it did. But we’d sure like to locate this guy… ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”
cvanreeuwyk@oakbaynews.com