Halifax Siege Ends

May 22, 2004 permalink

The Halifax siege of a couple defending their five-month-old baby ended with the death of the baby's 80-year-old grandmother, a possible result of the stress of the siege. Depending on your viewpoint, you can blame the parents or the police for her fate. Here is the article from the Halifax Herald, including pictures. The story suggests that the parents are normal people, who never got into trouble aside from that imposed on them by the family law system. It is unlikely that the baby girl will ever again have parental care.

The original link, now dead, was: http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2004/05/22/f237.raw.html

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Tragic conclusion
Baby's grandmother dead as couple ends custody standoff

Saturday, May 22, 2004, The Halifax Herald Limited, By JOHN GILLIS and DAN ARSENAULT

The longest police standoff in Halifax history ended Friday evening when Lawrence Finck and his wife Carline VandenElsen walked out the front door of their home at 6161 Shirley St. with their baby and the body of Mr. Finck's mother.

Ms. VandenElsen carried her five-month-old daughter, Mona-Clare, strapped to her chest in a baby knapsack. The baby was the subject of a child apprehension order from the Children's Aid Society that sparked the 67-hour standoff.

Mr. Finck, 50, and Ms. VandenElsen, 41, carried the body of his mother, Mona Finck, on a makeshift stretcher covered with a plaid blanket.

"Medical personnel at the scene pronounced the elderly woman, who was believed to be in her 80s, dead at the scene," Chief Frank Beazley of Halifax Regional Police said - without naming the woman - at a 10 p.m. news conference.

"We'll have to wait for an autopsy but it appears that she had been dead for some time. It would appear it would be more than a couple of hours, I would suggest."

Chief Beazley said police did not know she was dead until the standoff ended.

"My officers are very upset at the way this has ended," he said.

Mr. Finck was armed with a loaded rifle when the group crossed Shirley Street at about 7:25 p.m.

They went about a block before police officers carrying drawn weapons surrounded them.

"The first thing I heard was ... the woman hollering, 'My baby, my baby. Don't take my baby,' " eyewitness Doug King told The Canadian Press.

He said the man and woman were forced face-first onto the ground as up to a dozen officers surrounded them.

"They were putting up a fight, kind of a struggle, for the baby," Mr. King said. "They didn't want to release the baby."

Police said the couple were arrested without any shots fired.

"They did not surrender," Chief Beazley said. "The individuals were afforded every opportunity, and encouraged to surrender, throughout the incident."

He said the couple would likely face firearms-related charges, as well as those of obstruction and forcible confinement.

A member of the police emergency response team wearing body armour carried the baby to an unmarked police car. The baby cried but appeared to be in good health.

The infant was taken to the IWK Health Centre "just for routine checkup," said Michelle Pierce of the Emergency Health Services ambulance system.

Mr. Finck and Ms. VandenElsen were arrested. Paramedics assessed Mr. Finck at the scene but his wife refused to be examined, Ms. Pierce said.

"There was a lot of commotion," said Const. Kevin McLellan, spokesman for Halifax Regional Police. "Thankfully, the two were taken into custody without incident."

He said the woman was screaming as she was taken away.

Police were still not confirming the identities of any of the people involved.

Const. McLellan credited the peaceful resolution to both the negotiators and the baby's parents.

"It was because of the communication, because of the ongoing contact that our negotiators made, that they walked out of that house and they are in custody and they are unharmed," he said.

Earlier Friday, Mr. Finck and Ms. VandenElsen startled police and onlookers by making casual appearances on the roof, holding their baby.

Just before 4 p.m., Mr. Finck emerged from a second-floor window and took a seat on an overhang above the main entrance. He appeared relaxed, crossing his legs and smoking a cigarette.

At about 4:20 p.m., he was handed the baby, who seemed calm and content. He cradled the baby and let her stand between his knees while he supported her arms.

Fifteen minutes later, Ms. VandenElsen joined him on the overhang. She sat down and cradled the baby, putting a pink sweater on over the girl's white dress.

At 4:45 p.m., they all returned inside. Ms. Finck was not seen.

Police said they had no warning that the couple would appear, but Const. McLellan told reporters shortly afterward that the unexpected turn of events wouldn't hinder the continuing negotiations and that there was no reason for police to take immediate action.

"There was no sign that they were a threat to themselves or anyone else," he said.

There were reports Friday morning that police thought at least one occupant considered leaving the house, possibly to seek refuge in a church.

Police started widening their taped-off buffer zone and began stopping people from walking within sight of the Finck house.

Soon after, a remote-controlled police vehicle approached the house from Garden Street but stayed about 10 metres from the front door. After an hour without moving, the machine backtracked to its previous position.

"We thought there was some indication that some movement might have been made in the house - movement where people may have exited the house," Const. McLellan said a few hours later.

"As it turns out, it didn't happen."

He said police locked down a wider space for safety reasons.

"This particular area, a couple of hours ago, we thought was unsafe based on the information we were getting from our ERT (emergency response team). They wanted people moved.

"That's why the perimeter was extended and why we did issue warnings."

Const. McLellan said at that time that communications with the family were continuing.

Mary Deyoung, who has lived in the same Vernon Street house since 1936 and has known the Fincks for decades, said earlier in the day that Mona Finck was in poor health.

"She has very, very bad heart trouble," she said.

Ms. Deyoung said Larry Finck as a youngster was a regular guy.

"He was an ordinary young person, he went to school and didn't get into any problems that I knew of," she said.

Police first went to the Finck house just after midnight Tuesday night to try to carry out a child apprehension order from the Children's Aid Society.

They were denied entry, and after a second attempt was made later in the night, shots were fired from the house, sparking the standoff.

No reasons have been given for the issuing of the apprehension order that police were carrying out on behalf of Children's Aid.

Police originally arrived at the home to remove the baby in January but Ms. VandenElsen and the infant had disappeared. Neighbours noticed they were back in the house about two weeks ago.

Ms. VandenElsen and Mr. Finck have both lost previous custody battles involving other children from previous marriages.

In October 2000, Ms. VandenElsen, then living in Ontario, disappeared with her three seven-year-old triplets. They were found the next January living in Acapulco, Mexico. The children were returned to their father in Stratford, Ont., where they remain.

Mr. Finck served a prison term for abducting his four-year-old daughter from an Ontario reservation in 1999.

Mr. Finck and Ms. VandenElsen married last April and Mona-Clare was born in December.

The standoff attracted two vocal supporters Friday. Two women carried petitions seeking changes to Children's Aid policies that they said Mr. Finck had earlier helped them write.

The previous longest standoff in Halifax police history was in August 1996 when a man barricaded himself in a house for 12 hours.

Const. McLellan said that despite the length of this week's standoff, Halifax Regional Police and RCMP members staved off exhaustion because of help from extra duty officers and relief staff from other specialized teams.

"The officers are doing quite well," he said.

Const. McLellan said he didn't know what the operation would cost. Dozens of officers worked around the clock for almost three days straight.

"I wouldn't even dare to comment," he said.