A 42 year old man who was gassed during a tense stand off with the Hamilton Armed Offenders' Squad this afternoon has been hospitalised.
He is undergoing medical treatment for moderate injuries after he had to be gassed out of the house on Macdiarmid Road, Beerescourt, after refusing to surrender himself.
Police were called to the scene at around 4pm today after they became aware of a prolonged serious domestic incident that allegedly began the night before.
The squad had to use gas projectiles and distraction devices to get the man out of the house after negotiation tactics failed.
Alexandra Dewes lives next door to where the offender was holed up. She was at home with her six-year-old son when she heard policemen outside her house at 4pm.
She started talking to a policeman in her garden, who told her her neighbour failed to show up to court, she said.
"I got talking with the armed defenders and he apparently had come home and he had a sawn-off shotgun. It was very alarming for everyone and they had to gas him to get him out. It took about an hour and a half but they got him out.''
Mrs Dewes waited with her son at the opposite end of her house for more than an hour, listening to the police action next door. Police told her to stay inside, and stay safe.
She said police were using loud speakers.
"The armed defenders were trying to coax him out for about 45 minutes. And then they shot with shot guns, a sleepy gas into the bedroom windows.''
The police had to force their way into the basement with police dogs to extract the offender, who had barricaded himself in, said Detective Sergeant Carl Moon.
A female victim is now being offered support via Women's Refuge, he said.
"When you consider one woman is killed in New Zealand by her partner or ex-partner every five weeks in domestic violence incidents and about 10 children are killed every year, today's incident speaks volumes for people in such circumstances to seek help.''
The house is being cleared by officers wearing gas masks.
Mrs Dewes said she was relieved the man had been taken away and was shaken by the afternoon's events.
"You just don't know what they're going to do, do you? If they've got a gun, then it's very serious.''
