Suspect surrenders after standoff at Seattle motel

Police say a bank robbery suspect who had barricaded himself inside a room in a North Seattle hotel surrendered to authorities.

Police say an officer was serving an arrest warrant on a woman Sunday afternoon when he discovered her staying with a bank robbery suspect. That male suspect spotted the officer, ran into the motel room and refused to come out. The man told officers he would not leave and was holding his girlfriend hostage.

“The suspect basically told the officers, ‘I have my girlfriend here, consider her my hostage,'” says Seattle Police Detective Mark Jamieson. “At that point that sort of triggered a different response, we had to call out our negotiators, we had to call out our SWAT team.”

The woman came out of the room awhile later and then shortly after 7 p.m. Sunday, authorities say the man surrendered without incident.

“We were able to get her out safely and him into custody without incident, without anyone getting harmed and it was resolved peacefully.”

Details about the bank robbery weren’t immediately available.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.