GOLD BAR — Combine Gold Bar, a botched home-invasion and a 7-foot, redheaded former professional basketball player and you have a Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office report from Tuesday.
Two people were arrested in the case, including Robert Swift, the 29-year-old former Seattle SuperSonic whose legal troubles have made headlines in years past.
Swift remained in the King County Jail on $20,000 bail Friday while one alleged accomplice was locked up in the Snohomish County Jail on a warrant. A third suspect was not arrested.
“We are investigating it as unlawful possession of weapons,” sheriff’s spokeswoman Shari Ireton said Friday. “We took a car into evidence to search for weapons.”
The first 911 call came from the victim, who said he was being robbed, then hung up, according to police reports. One of the suspects was masked and trying to break into the home.
A sheriff’s sergeant pulled up to the house and saw a lowered Acura parked outside with doors ajar. Two men reportedly were nearby, wearing pulled-down ski masks and “bulky camouflage clothing.”
The sergeant found their getup unusual because it was “a relatively warm day,” he wrote. He also knew the property had a history of incidents involving reported assaults. At some point, the victim burst out of the house waving a baseball bat above his head, with a “clearly angry expression on his face,” the sergeant wrote. The victim apologized and complied when the police told him to drop the bat and go back inside.
A pat-down of the suspects turned up multiple firearms. One reportedly told the deputies he was on the property to go target shooting but first wanted to let the victim know.
That didn’t explain the outfits, though, the sergeant noted. The suspects also had walkie-talkies tuned to the same channel.
Police asked the two men if they’d acted alone. No, they said, their friend “Rob” was in the Acura, which had deeply tinted windows.
Rob turned out to be Swift, who also was wearing camo, a face mask and had a walkie talkie, according to police reports. He allegedly had a rifle and multiple daggers, along with some burglary tools.
Swift was wanted on a warrant related to a sawed-off shotgun found during a raid in Kirkland in October, according to The Associated Press.
Swift, who is 7-foot-1, was a former first-round draft pick who reportedly earned $20 million during his career, the Associated Press reported.
The Gold Bar-area victim reportedly is headed to prison soon himself for a robbery conviction and knew at least one of the suspects before the showdown.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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