Police Department

Officers Successfully De-Escalate Possibly Armed Subject

Ofc. Teresa Fuller

Tuesday, November 4, 2014 at 4:50 p.m.

Spokane Police officers, including officers from the Emergency Response Unit (ERU), were able to safely take a man reportedly armed with a firearm into custody after an hours-long standoff. A concerned acquaintance of the man called 911 after receiving a disturbing picture as well information that the subject had shot himself in the leg. The man was taken to the hospital for a mental health evaluation.

On 11/03/2014, just after 11:30 p.m., Spokane Police responded to the 1000 block of east 40th on a report of a male subject possibly armed with a gun, threatening suicide. He had allegedly sent an acquaintance a disturbing picture of how he planned to commit suicide, advised he had the firearms to do it, and later told the caller he had shot himself in the leg. He also allegedly advised the caller that he would force a confrontation with police if police responded.

Officers tried a number of times to call the subject out of the house with no response. Due to the strong possibility there were weapons at the location and to protect the safety of the individual and the surrounding community, ERU and negotiators responded to the scene to assist patrol officers in their work to safely de-escalate the situation. Just after 2 a.m., the subject, who had been talking with negotiators for nearly an hour, came out of the house and was taken into protective custody without incident. He was uninjured and was taken to a local hospital for a mental health evaluation.

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