A distraught man whose romantic advances were rejected by an employee of a massage parlour slashed himself and stormed into the building threatening to kill the woman.

One of the employees at Studio 8 managed to summon police with a 911 phone call late Monday night. When officers arrived, the man was barricaded in a kitchen and had to be called out by RCMP, said Staff Sgt. Grant Learned.

The man armed himself with a butcher knife before facing police. He said he was going to stab himself and gestured at the officers with the knife, Learned said Tuesday.

He yelled at them to shoot him and further gestured in an attempt to provoke the officers into discharging their firearms, Learned said.

Faced with the option of discharging their pistols or using a Taser to subdue the distraught man, Learned said police opted to use the stun gun.

"One officer … positioned himself to safely activate the device and the man was subdued without further injury or risk," said Learned.

The man was transported to Royal Inland Hospital for treatment of self-inflicted wounds. He was eventually released into police custody.

The two women in the massage parlour at the time of the incident were shaken but unharmed. The parlour's owner, who identified herself as Paula, said they both hid until police arrived.

She praised the RCMP for the way officers handled the situation and credited officers for capturing the man without injuring him.

Const. Michelle Toews said the incident is a textbook case of when a Taser should be used since the only other option constables had was to shoot the man.

"If we hadn't had the Taser we would have found ourselves in much more difficult circumstances," she said.

Paula was reluctant to speak about the 55-year-old man police have in custody. She described him as a good person who needed some help.

"He had been in the parlour a number of times and was known to staff," she said.

The man will undergo a psychiatric evaluation. Police are recommending charges of uttering threats to kill, possession of a weapon dangerous to the public and assault with a weapon, said Learned.

The parlour's windows were blacked out and the door locked Tuesday.

Employees of other businesses that share the complex were shocked when they learned of the Tuesday morning standoff.

Christine MacKenzie of Central Hair Design said the neighbourhood is usually void of trouble.

"The women who work at the massage parlour are friendly," she said.

The business opened last October and most of the customers drop by at night.

"They keep to themselves. We almost never see them," said MacKenzie.