A man was arrested this morning in North Seattle following a hostage/barricaded incident. Just shortly after midnight, the victim called 911 and stated she was in a verbal argument with her husband at an apartment in the 14000 block of 32 Ave NE and he was carrying a gun in a holster. She stated he was intoxicated and banging on the apartment door, but may have left or gone someplace else in the building.
When officers arrived they made contact via phone with the husband and attempted to call him out to speak with officers, but he was irrational, paranoid and not cooperative. Officers learned that he was possibly suffering from PTSD. Officers attempted to establish where the husband was and to safely enter the building to contact the victim (NO crime had been committed up to this point). The main focus was safety for the officers and the victim and her family.
At about that time, the victim stated that her husband had returned back to her door and made his way inside. The dispatchers could hear that he was not allowing the victim and her family to leave, and heard the suspect threatened to shoot officers if they entered the apartment. The dispatcher could also hear the suspect racking the slide of gun. At that point, the incident was treated as a hostage situation.
Approximately 5 minutes after the husband/suspect entered the apartment, he allowed all occupants inside the apartment to leave, and he barricaded himself. The suspect was updating information on Facebook during the incident. SWAT arrived and the suspect came out. Firearms were recovered and placed into evidence. The 27-year-old suspect was booked into King County Jail for Investigation of Harassment and Unlawful Imprisonment.