Edmonton police are ignoring questions about why they are refusing to release the name a man charged after an alleged hostage situation.
A three-year old boy was held at knifepoint Friday at a Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) detachment in Edmonton. Police have identified the boy as Katjavivi Tujavi, but are not naming the 27-year old male charged in connection with the incident.
The Edmonton Police Service has not responded to numerous inquiries from True North.
Video footage purports to show an agitated man demanding to be let into the staff office, yelling incoherently at CBSA officers.
At one point the man repeats, “You want to see the blood?” before grabbing three-year-old Tutjavi and holding a knife to his throat.
Tujavi and his siblings were waiting in the lobby with a family friend while his mother, Siska Mbaisa, attended an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing for her husband, Nickolas Tutjavi, who is facing deportation to Namibia.
“I didn’t even see the person, I just grabbed my baby. There was panic and crying and my son kept on repeating, ‘What is going on?’ and asking me, ‘Where’s Daddy? Why is the man doing this?’ I couldn’t even answer him I was so shocked,” said Mbaisa.
Witnesses say the child was safely rescued by a Commissionaire and the suspect was eventually apprehended by the police.
According to Mbaisa, she and her child have been traumatized to the extent that her son has been re-enacting the episode at home.
A suspect is in custody. He’s been charged with assault with a weapon, uttering threats and hostage-taking.
