An escaped prisoner barricaded inside a Saskatoon apartment Tuesday was taken into police custody after a nearly-six-hour standoff.
Police were called to a residence on the 2100 block of Seventh Street East in the city's Holliston neighbourhood just after 11 a.m. Joseph Simon Peter Yaremko, a 32-year-old man who escaped Sunday from Saskatchewan Hospital in North Battleford, had barricaded himself inside the apartment.
Heavily armed officers as well as crisis negotiators were called to the scene. Police taped off the entire block and surrounded the residence. A standoff ensued until officers took Yaremko into custody shortly before 5 p.m.
It is unclear whether Yaremko was armed during the standoff.
Yaremko escaped Saskatchewan Hospital, a psychiatric rehabilitation hospital, around 8:40 p.m. Sunday. An accomplice is believed to have picked him up in a vehicle outside the hospital.
He has a history of violence and is considered mentally unstable, according to RCMP.
