Fire engulfs Hoquiam house during standoff with man
Mar 28, 2013, 6:39 AM | Updated: 1:52 pm
A man who was holed up in a house in the Washington coastal town of Hoquiam after allegedly wounding an officer has died after the 20-hour standoff ended in a shootout with police.
Police were trying to serve an arrest warrant. A spokesman for the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office said the man, age 49, was wanted on four felony charges related to real estate fraud.
Hoquiam Sgt. Brian Dayton said no officers were injured during the confrontation early Thursday morning. The man came out of the house firing at about 6:00 a.m.
“The suspect came out of the residence armed. He was contacted by the tactical team there, given orders, which he refused to comply with,” said Dayton. “An exchange of gunfire took place.”
Moments later the house erupted into flames.
The standoff started Wednesday morning after police went to the house to arrest the man. Officers first went to the home Tuesday and arrested a 53-year-old woman on the same felony charges. Four officers returned Wednesday morning to arrest the man, who had given officers an apparent false I.D. the day before.
The man shot one of the officers in the side, wounding him, authorities said. The other officers returned fire, and the suspect barricaded himself on the upper floor of the home.
Police then surrounded the home and tried to talk the man into surrendering. They also fired tear gas into the house and apparently used flash-bang noise makers to keep him awake through the night.
Officers believe the man had a gas mask. They said he disabled two police robots sent into the house.
“Some distraction devices were put in to get the suspect moving around, and shortly thereafter flames were seen in the house,” Dayton said.
Throughout the day and night, loud speakers were used to tell the man to come out with his hands up.
“We tried all night long to get him to engage and contact our negotiators and he just wasn’t talking to us at all,” said Dayton.
The officer who was shot was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at a hospital, said Steve Shumate, Grays Harbor County sheriff’s chief criminal deputy.
Authorities who responded to the standoff included a police team made up of officers from throughout the area and the Washington State Patrol. They evacuated neighbors and closed streets to keep people out of the range of possible gunfire.
KIRO Radio Reporter Chris Sullivan, KIRO Radio Reporter Tim Haeck and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
