Chess match goes awry, leads to standoff with Bellevue Police
Jul 18, 2013, 9:07 AM | Updated: May 13, 2016, 10:59 pm
From checkmate to gunpoint in Bellevue.
An argument during a chess match turned into a standoff near 108th Southeast and Bellevue Way on Thursday.
A man pulled a gun on his neighbor in an apartment complex around 2 a.m., according to Bellevue police.
It took nearly seven hours to coax the man out of his apartment. Bellevue Police’s Carla Iafrate said the man had barricaded himself inside with a gun. He was alone and had no hostages.
Negotiators attempted to talk to the man with hopes he would surrender. Police threw multiple rounds of tear gas into the home.
KIRO Radio reporter Chris Sullivan said despite standing some distance from the scene, he was feeling the effects of the tear gas being thrown into the apartment.
The Bellevue Bomb Squad also sent in a robot to assess the situation.
Several streets were blocked during the standoff, including Bellevue Way. Those roads were reopened when police took the man into custody shortly after 10 a.m.
KIRO Radio’s Chris Sullivan and MyNorthwest.com’s Alyssa Kleven contributed to this report.
