Home intruder wielding power tools is arrested for burglary

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, June 7, 2017

EVERETT — A south Everett family was terrorized recently by an intruder wielding a power saw.

The incident started about 11:30 a.m. May 27 on 128th Place SE, outside city limits.

The family called police and said the suspect, a 22-year-old Bothell man, was in the yard with a weed whacker and refusing to leave. The man kept asking for “Austin.” The family didn’t know anyone by that name, according to the arrest report.

Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Duke Beard told the man to leave. At that point, the family declined to press charges for trespassing.

The family called 911 again just after noon. The deputy found them outside their home. “There were children crying and the family saying how scared they were,” Beard wrote in his report.

The suspect was inside, standing on the stairs holding a yellow power saw.

A nephew of the family said the suspect had knocked on a side door. The nephew tried to block the entry. The suspect threatened him with the saw “by turning it on and then forced the door open with his body with such force that (the nephew) was knocked off balance,” Beard wrote.

As the family fled, the man was attempting to use the saw to break through a locked door leading to the second story, the report said.

He allegedly told the deputy he was looking for “new Austin” because “old Austin” wasn’t there. He then spoke about various topics, including wanting to turn his life around, Jesus, Donald Trump and Paul the Apostle.

The deputy suspected substance abuse or mental health issues. The man said he had been sober for a week. He was arrested for investigation of first-degree burglary. He remained in jail as of Tuesday.

Power tools can cause serious injuries. In 2012, an Everett woman was convicted of attempted murder after trying to decapitate her husband with an electric saw.

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @rikkiking.