Police lay charges over alleged axe incident at Sunridge Place

Police have charged a Yellowknife man over an incident last week said to have involved an axe at the city’s Sunridge Place apartment building.

More than half a dozen RCMP vehicles surrounded the building on 51A Avenue last Tuesday evening. After a standoff lasting a number of hours, a man was arrested at around midnight.

Police have not publicly commented on exactly what took place, referring only to an individual who was “armed and barricaded.”

However, a tenant of the building told Cabin Radio he saw a man with an axe “chopping away at the door” of a nearby apartment before retreating to a separate unit – eventually being dislodged with the help of police-deployed flash-bangs or “diversion devices.”

On Monday, RCMP announced they had charged a man in connection with what happened that night.

Police identified the man as Lance Kristensen, a 29-year-old, who is next due in court on June 23.

RCMP said Kristensen faces two counts of uttering threats, one of possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and one of mischief under $5,000.

Last week, police said: “This was a single, isolated incident and the public was not believed to be at risk at the time.”