Man sneaks away during SWAT standoff south of Everett

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, January 9, 2019

EVERETT — A SWAT standoff south of Everett ended with a man arrested about a mile from the home in which he barricaded himself for most of the night.

The Everett man, 40, sent texts threatening to harm himself and others Tuesday, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies went to his home in the 11500 block of Meridian Street around 8:30 p.m. They were told he had a shotgun. He reportedly refused to exit, sparking a large response that included the North Sound Metro SWAT team.

The man spoke with deputies on the phone for hours, on and off. He turned off his phone and went silent for long stretches, then restarted a conversation with a negotiator, sheriff’s spokeswoman Courtney O’Keefe said.

During one of the silences, he escaped. How he got out isn’t clear.

Deputies found him walking down East Gibson Road around 11:30 p.m., about a mile west of the standoff. He was arrested without incident and booked into the Snohomish County Jail on allegations of felony threats against two family members. No one was injured.

A shotgun was recovered from the man’s vehicle, outside his home. His felony record means he isn’t supposed to possess guns.

Court records show that in 2006 the man led a sheriff’s deputy on a 100 mph chase. In that case, a deputy in an unmarked patrol car tried to ticket him for not wearing a seatbelt. The man pulled over but sped off as soon as the deputy got out of the car. He bailed from the driver’s seat at a gas station. Police chased him down, checked his pockets and found five grams of cocaine.

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