SPOKANE - Police and SWAT teams were in a standoff with an armed suspect holed up in a house in North Spokane Friday afternoon. It ended peacefully around 7 p.m., with the suspect in custody.
The standoff began early Friday afternoon when police officers tried to arrest the suspect. The suspect had been under surveillance earlier in the morning for a crime police did not specify.
When police attempted the arrest, the suspect fled and led police on a short car chase, at one point reaching speeds up to 80 miles an hour.
The suspect then rammed his vehicle into a police car and fled on foot into a house in North Spokane. Occupants of the house, who were inside at the time of the incident, managed to leave unharmed.
KREM
The suspect is holed up in a house in North Spokane.
Negotiators established a secure telephone line with the suspect inside the home, but the 19-year-old suspect was not willing to immediately surrender.
Police went door to door to make sure people were safe inside their homes.
According to KREM 2 reporter Kevin Oliver, the suspect popped his head out of a hole in the roof and asked police to shoot him. He told police he would rather be shot than go back to jail.
According to police, the suspect has a history with the law and is believed to be armed. They believe he may have ties to drugs and gangs.
The incident also prompted nearby Longfellow Elementary School to go into lockdown briefly.