SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — The Spokane County Sheriff's Office (SCSO) is still at the crime scene on a Moran Prairie home after Thursday's tense standoff and shootout.
The house remains an active scene on South Glenrose Road. Crime scene tape is still up and law enforcement has blocked both streets in the area as investigators are at the home collecting evidence.
Investigators said the incident involved a man with declining mental health who threatened to kill his mother, before eventually firing at deputies. The man, who KREM 2 is choosing not to name, has now been taken into police custody and taken to the hospital for treatment.
Jack and Nancy Abel live in the area and had no idea what was going on just a few doors down. That is, until a friend called to check in and then they saw their own neighborhood on the news.
On Friday, they got an even closer view of the scene – inadvertently while on their afternoon walk.
"They let us walk down there, however, another officer said we weren't supposed to be as it's a crime scene, but anyway we were there and it was obvious the house he was in because all the windows are blown out. There's so much damage to the garage and it almost looks like an explosion happened or something," Nancy said.
Officials confirmed a 49-year-old man was injured during the standoff, but according to the Spokane County Sheriff, he didn't suffer life-threatening injuries.
Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for two counts of second-degree assault, with probable cause to add second-degree robbery. A judge also granted a search warrant for the house.
Background:
The incident was first reported on Wednesday night when officers were called by mental health professionals. SCSO said the man had been involved in an argument with his mother, where he threatened to “blow her head off." Deputies were told the man was known to have a handgun and was in declining mental health.
Deputies went to the house but said the man did not believe they were law enforcement. When one deputy used a flashlight to show his uniform, they say the man pulled out a pistol and pointed it at them.
The sheriff's office assigned a surveillance team to the house. On Thursday night, the man left the house and drove to a nearby Safeway.
Deputies say the man "caused a disturbance" at the store and "threatened to harm other victims."
Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels explained why deputies didn't take the man into custody immediately after the initial threats against his mother or prior to the incident at the store.
“The decision was made Wednesday evening that he wasn't an imminent threat to anybody but himself," Nowels said. "The mother was not at the home. The family members were not at the home. And he had not made any overt threats that we are aware of to the surrounding community.”
SCSO made the decision to try and stop the man before he could return home. The Sheriff's Office reports at 6:15 p.m. investigators called for emergency backup and shortly afterward shots were fired between the man and deputies.
During the gunfire, the man managed to make it back inside his house.
As deputies surrounded the house, the sheriff's office sent out an emergency alert asking people nearby to shelter in place. They also had to block a large stretch of 57th and Glenrose as members of the SWAT team tried to get the man to surrender.
Forty-plus law enforcement vehicles were stationed around the man's home. with a helicopter flying overhead.
After several hours, SWAT members went into the house and made contact with the man. Deputies used "chemical irritants" which caused the man to leave the house. Deputies said the man remained uncooperative and a Taser was used to take him into custody.
For more on why the SCSO did not arrest the man right away, click on the video below.
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