A man is facing eight charges in connection with what police are calling a “firearms incident,” not a standoff, in Riverdale over the Christmas holidays.

Two people were arrested, eight hours after police responded to a firearms complaint on Stewart Road, on Dec. 27.

Jay Chandler, 26, is charged with possession of a weapon, uttering threats, flight (failing to stop for police), intimidation of a justice system participant, operating a motor vehicle while disqualified and breaches of a court order.

Chelsey Bien, 22, is also facing a breach charge.

Cpl. Natasha Dunmall said this morning Whitehorse RCMP first received a report of a man inside a home threatening a resident with a non-restricted firearm.

The original police press release stated that this happened at about 1 a.m.

By the time RCMP showed up, the man had fled the scene on foot. Using police dogs, they tracked him to another home in the area.

He was familiar with this house, Dunmall said.

She said the Emergency Response Team mobilized while a search warrant was obtained. The two were arrested, without incident, after police entered the house with the warrant at 9:30 a.m.

Dunmall said, to her knowledge, no homes in the area were evacuated.

Though the arrests took several hours to execute, Dunmall said she wouldn’t describe the incident as a standoff.

“The police were there and containing the residence for the purpose of obtaining a search warrant. I wouldn’t go as far as to call it a stand-off, in what society believes a stand-off to be,” she said.

The scene often pictured on TV and in movies – police in front of a house with guns drawn – is not what happened in this case, she added.

Dunmall said the eight-hour time frame wasn’t unusual for situations like this one, because involving the Emergency Response Team and drafting a warrant take time.

“The smart decisions made by everyone involved in this dynamic incident, from the officers on the road to our dispatchers, were key in the apprehension of this individual, who is known to police,” she said.

She wouldn’t comment on any specific tactics the team used.

“The Emergency Response Team uses a combination of specialized training, equipment, tactics and negotiation strategies in its efforts to safely resolve high-risk incidents, which often involve some type of weapon or firearm, such as a hostage-taking or a person who has barricaded themselves,” police stated in a news release.