SPOKANE, Wash. — The man who allegedly assaulted a courthouse security officer before fleeing into Ephrata on Tuesday morning is in custody.
According to the Grant County Sheriff's Office, 34-year-old Joshua Maher assaulted a security officer at a security checkpoint at about 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
Maher then fled into northwest Ephrata, according to the sheriff's office.
Maher was apprehended on Wednesday in Grand Coulee and is in custody, according to the city of Ephrata Government.
The arrest was made by units from the Grant County Sheriff's Office and was assisted by other agencies.
At first Maher was resistant to the arrest, but surrendered peacefully following a short verbal exchange, according to a press release from the City of Ephrata Government.
Maher was booked into the Grant County jail on court warrants and a charge of Assault-2.
“Courthouse security officers are part of our family, and if you hurt one of them, you can expect that our family won't stop looking until we catch you," Grant County Sheriff Tom Jones wrote.
Ephrata High School and Grant Elementary School were placed on lockdown, the sheriff's office said. Those lockdowns were lifted at 11:45 a.m. on Tuesday.
Other schools in the area took extra security measures and K9 units were deployed, according to the sheriff's office.
