FEDERAL WAY – A man withstood a tear gas barrage before being shot to death in a nine-hour standoff that began after a woman reported that he had seized her at gunpoint in her apartment, police said.

The stalemate ended about 1:30 p.m. Thursday when the Federal Way man, in his 40s, shot at officers, who returned fire at the Village at the Lake Apartments, police spokes-woman Stacy Flores said. Half an hour later, police entered the third-floor unit and found the man dead.

It was the second police shooting in Federal Way in nine days. On Nov. 8, an officer shot and wounded Anthony Dias as he tried to flee another apartment building, and he was later arrested and charged with rape.

Associated Press

Yakima: Mexican arraigned in slayings

A man who was arrested after re-entering the country from Mexico has been arraigned in the drug-related killing of a man and his young daughter and the near-fatal shooting of the man’s girlfriend.

Bail was set at $5 million dollars for Mario Gil Mendez, 25, who did not enter a plea Thursday in Yakima County Superior Court.

Mendez, who was returned to Yakima under tight security Wednesday, is charged with aggravated first-degree murder in the shooting of Mya Causor, 3, and her father, Ricardo Causor, 21, during a marijuana theft at the family’s apartment Feb. 20.

Associated Press

Spokane: Pimp gets 44 years for killing man

A pimp has been sentenced to more than 44 years in prison for his role in the death of a man who tried to help a prostitute.

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Harold Clarke gave Robert T. Spencer, 42, the top of the standard range Thursday after the dead man’s weeping mother pleaded for a maximum sentence.

Spencer was convicted in August of second-degree murder, two counts of second-degree assault, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree promoting prostitution in the death of James Alan Johnston a year ago.

Testimony indicated that Jonna Pacello, a 5-foot-2-inch, 90-pound prostitute, went to Johnston’s apartment above a barbecue restaurant after escaping from a downtown motel room where Spencer had been trying to force her to accept him as her pimp.

Spencer followed her to the apartment and again threatened her, but Johnston “stepped right in the middle to protect me,” Pacello testified.

Associated Press

Ocean Shores: Man suspected in death

Police consider a man arrested near here earlier this week in a Tacoma-area slaying the prime suspect in the shooting death of a Kent school teacher at her Ocean Shores vacation home.

Investigators say a neighbor found Mary Utschinski lying on the floor of her home Wednesday night, shot once in the chest. The death has been ruled a homicide.

The suspect, who was arrested Tuesday in nearby Ocean City in the Pierce County case, is the main suspect in her death, Ocean Shores Police Chief Rich McEachin said Friday. The suspect had Utschinski’s cell phone and credit cards in his possession, McEachin said, and ballistics matched the bullet that killed Utschinski with the suspect’s gun.

Associated Press

Nevada: Hells Angels arraigned in fatal fracas

Thirty-six alleged Hells Angels members, including four men from Washington state, pleaded not guilty Friday to federal racketeering, violence and weapons charges stemming from a deadly brawl with another motorcycle gang that left three people dead and dozens hurt in 2002.

“They’re not a criminal organization,” said David Chesnoff, a Las Vegas lawyer and unofficial spokesman for dozens of Hells Angels from five Western states charged in the fatal fracas with rival Mongols at an annual motorcycle rally in Laughlin.

Each faces the possibility of life in prison on the most serious charge, racketeering-attempted murder.

Among those entering pleas were Ron Arnone, 41, Tacoma; Michael Mills, 47, Wenatchee; Steven Pearce, 51, Silverdale; and Brian Wolff, 42, Spokane.

Arraignments were rescheduled in December for Jeffrey Carney, 44, of Kirkland, and Rick Fabel, 48, of Spokane.

Associated Press