EVERETT — The north glass door entrance to the Snohomish County Courthouse remained covered by a large piece of plywood Tuesday after a weekend break-in. Around 9 a.m. Sunday, a man broke into courthouse and ascended to the fourth-floor sheriff’s office, where workers in the records division called 911. He reportedly was equipped with a crowbar and a knife and damaged a key card panel.
A suspect was arrested for investigation of burglary around 11:15 a.m. after another 911 call was made reporting an aggressive man with a knife in downtown Everett.
The homeless Everett man, 25, matched the description obtained from video surveillance of the suspect in the courthouse break-in. He’d been described as having short blond hair, a tattoo under an eye and was said to be wearing a white shirt and blue nylon running pants.
A four-page police report said the man went to the kitchen area at the sheriff’s office. Deputies found the soda machine in the break room was extensively damaged. Detectives from the Everett Police Department and sheriff’s office property crimes unit are investigating.
When asked if he was in the courthouse that morning, the man allegedly told a deputy: “Not that I’m aware of.”
The deputy asked him what it would mean if he was seen on video inside the building, the man told him: “I don’t know. I wasn’t there.”
The man who broke into the sheriff’s office reportedly told the records clerks that he didn’t want to die and he wasn’t going to be taken alive. He then ran away.
Sunday’s incident was not the first time the suspect was accused of using a knife in a menacing manner.
A relative in 2014 filed for a protection order, alleging that the man “likes to threaten with knives.”
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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