Four men have been arrested and charged with forcible confinement and assault with a weapon after a family's home in Ottawa's west end was seized and occupied for weeks.

Tyrone Ritchie, 20, Mowlid Ali, 21, Makador Ali, 19, and Khalid Mohammad, 19, all of Ottawa, were to appear in court Friday after their arrest at the home, said an Ottawa police news release issued early Friday morning.

The Ottawa Community Housing townhouse was in the Ritchie Street area, near Britannia Park, and the family that lived in the home — a mother, her 16-year-old son and her 15-year-old daughter — were there at the time of the men's arrests on Thursday, said Staff Sgt. Uday Jaswal of the guns and gangs unit. He added the offences that led to the charges had taken place over a few weeks.

"We received information which we felt compelled us to act in this case in terms of the safety of the children," he added, although he gave no further details of what led to the arrests.

The family members were the victims of the alleged forcible confinement, he said. However, he noted the charge encompasses any case in which the occupants do not feel they can leave.

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That is freaky! What is going on with the amount of audacity the criminals are getting?!

They have had home invasions around here,mainly though to rob people.
However,here in Texas,if they tried this and the home owner shoots them,too bad.You have the right to defend yourself
and your property under Texas law.

Yeah, we need to be a lot more like Texas. Myybe then the perps would think twice about doing the things they do. We are way too lenient with criminals.