Man accused of armed, drunken, 3 a.m. break-in at wife’s home

Published 1:30 am Thursday, November 30, 2017

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — A Mountlake Terrace gunman used locksmith tools to make a key to break into his estranged wife’s home early Thursday, according to police.

The woman had a restraining order against her husband, 55, Mountlake Terrace police Cmdr. Doug Hansen said. Hours before the break-in, she had found a noose hanging from the ceiling of her garage on 239th Place SW.

Around 3 a.m. the husband unlocked the front door of her home, with a key he’d apparently fashioned himself. He was “highly intoxicated,” Hansen said. The man had a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol, with ammo magazines in a pouch attached to his waist.

Another man, 32, happened to be eating food in the dining room, police said. He tackled the intruder and knocked the gun away. The gun was loaded. Officers arrived to find the husband still pinned down on the floor. They arrested him and secured the gun.

On his way to jail, the husband said he planned to kill himself and the man who had tackled him, according to police. Officers suspect he likely tied the noose in the woman’s garage. Other than extreme intoxication, police said they don’t know what made him so upset.

Hansen didn’t know details of the man’s locksmith background, except that he had the tools to make keys.

Police booked the husband into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of first-degree assault, first-degree burglary, felony harassment and violating a domestic violence order.

Caleb Hutton: 425-339-3454; chutton@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snocaleb.