2-hour standoff with man armed with knife ends peacefully

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, October 10, 2017

LYNNWOOD — A two-hour standoff with an armed suicidal man ended without serious injuries Tuesday, according to Lynnwood police.

Officers were called around 2:15 p.m. for a report of an unwanted guest in a neighborhood north of Alderwood mall. An officer tried to talk with the man at a house in the 3700 block of 177th Place SW, but he ran out a back door holding a knife, said Deputy Chief Jim Nelson.

The man, in his 50s, stopped and sat down in a wooded area. He held the knife to his throat and threatened to harm himself, Nelson said. Police called in crisis negotiators who tried for two hours to calm him down.

Eventually, things escalated. Officers shot the man with foam batons — a kind of “less-lethal” ammunition — and took him into custody.

Firefighters checked the man for injuries. He had a felony warrant for his arrest for reckless burning, as well as misdemeanor warrants.

Police took him to a local hospital to determine if he was mentally fit to be booked into jail.