SPOKANE, Wash. — A 23-year-old man was arrested Wednesday afternoon after he allegedly held two young children hostage in a north Spokane home and engaged in a standoff with police for hours.
The suspect, Teffery TR Karben, has been booked into the Spokane County Jail for two counts of felony harassment involving a weapon.
Karben appeared in court Thursday afternoon.
Police said Karben repeated those same threats to officers. Spokane city and county SWAT teams set up outside the home along with hostage negotiators. After several hours, several adults and minors were safely removed. However, Karben refused to come out and kept the two children with him.
According to police, Karben was armed with a knife. Hours into the standoff, Karben walked out of the home along with the kids, who were unharmed and returned to family.
A look at Karben's criminal history reveals he was convicted of second-degree robbery in 2018 and has an ongoing theft case, for which he was released to pre-trial monitoring and failed to show up to court.
Karben's defense asked the court to release him without bond Thursday. Prosecutors asked for $26,000.
A judge agreed with prosecutors and set Karben's bond at $26,000.
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