EDMONDS — Nobody was seriously hurt in a nine-hour Edmonds police standoff that ended in an arrest.
Around 10:30 a.m. Sunday, the Edmonds Police Department responded to a report that a 23-year-old man was armed with a knife and making death threats to his family in the 8200 block of 234th Street SW.
First responders arrived to find the man’s father and two other sons had fled out the front door. The family reportedly told police the son was still inside the house, armed, with his mother.
Edmonds police forced their way into the home. They found the son wielding a kitchen knife about 6 to 8 inches long, police wrote. Officers rescued the mother and returned outside.
Police then surrounded the house and made announcements trying to get the son to exit, police said. At one point, the son reportedly opened the door and emerged briefly while talking nonsensically. He then returned inside.
Law enforcement used a megaphone and speakers to repeatedly advise the son he was under arrest, but he did not surrender, police wrote in a news release. The North Sound Metro SWAT Team was called to the scene around 3 p.m. and took over the negotiation.
The SWAT team saw the son through the windows of one room in the house, Edmonds police Acting Assistant Chief Josh McClure said. SWAT team members reportedly shot pepper balls at the man before entering the home. The son was no longer armed, McClure said, but he remained “passively non-compliant” until he was arrested around 7:15 p.m.
McClure said the standoff was a “textbook example” of how deescalation should look. He said Edmonds police recognized the name of the armed son from past encounters.
“Once the innocent person was out, they removed themselves from the residence to allow distance and shielding — to allow things to settle down,” McClure said.
The son was booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of second-degree domestic violence assault, domestic violence harassment and two counts of fourth-degree assault.
Ellen Dennis:
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