SPOKANE, Wash. — Two schools in the Cheney School District were briefly placed on a lockdown Wednesday during a SWAT standoff at a nearby house. The lockdown was lifted shortly after the suspect was arrested.
Windsor Elementary School and Westwood Middle School went into lockdown on Wednesday afternoon. The lockdown was in response to a SWAT standoff at a house located approximately half a mile from the schools, where officers were attempting to arrest a man on multiple charges.
The man was ultimately arrested, and the lockdowns were lifted shortly after.
During the lockdowns, nobody was allowed to enter or leave the school, including parents. This meant some parents had to wait in the parking lot to pick up their children.
Police went to a home approximately half a mile from the schools to arrest a man for multiple charges, including unlawful possession of a firearm and domestic order protection violations. The suspect also had a Department of Corrections (DOC) warrant out for his arrest.
Police told KREM 2 the suspect initially refused to come out of the home, so the SWAT team was called in. The home was quickly surrounded.
"Both based on the nature of the charges and investigative information regarding this individual led us to believe that there was a potential for this person to commit a violent act towards law enforcement or the community, and that's why the resources that were utilized were," a SWAT member told KREM 2.
The suspect was ultimately arrested without further incident. His identity is not known at this time.
The lockdowns at both schools were lifted at approximately 3:40 p.m. No one was injured.
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