SEATTLE — A $30,000 bond was issued for the suspect who police said barricaded himself inside a home in Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood.
The lawyer for the suspect argued Friday that he should be released due to mental health issues. The prosecuting attorney argued the suspect already had two first-degree criminal trespass charges this year and 17 failures to appear since 2018 and that he should be kept in jail.
The judge agreed mental health seemed to be a factor in the incident that began Wednesday night and lasted into Thursday, but that the suspect should not be released.
The Seattle Police Department was called just before midnight when homeowners said they were locked out of their home. The homeowners told police they were in the front yard because they thought a raccoon was nesting. The suspect found an opening, got inside the house and locked the homeowners out.
"We're minding our own business having a nice quiet evening at home at around 11. And that question came up between us of were the raccoons getting into some stuff out in our front yard," said the homeowners, who didn't want to be named. "He was just a target of opportunity to get in our house."
A SWAT team surrounded the home and a police standoff began. Police tried using flashbangs, placing a robot inside to monitor the suspect and were armed with shields at the front door.
Court documents show that two officers received minor injuries when their face and eyes were hit by glass from the suspect shattering a window from inside the home.
Detective Valerie Carson with Seattle police said the man did seem to be having a mental health crisis and that police did have crisis responders on scene. But before they provide resources to any person in crisis, they have to respond to the crime currently happening.
“The crime trumps the crisis at any at any time, pretty much,” said Carson. “Especially if it is a violent or dangerous crime.”
She said Seattle police have seen break-ins where people go in and shower in other people’s homes or take shelter in them, but said due to the significant damage done and the overall situation, this was different.
“I would say that that's probably more unusual for someone to get to an open door and then lock the homeowners out,” said Carson.
Documents show police originally walked up to the home to try to get the suspect to leave and saw him playing the piano inside. But, the suspect then told police he had a gun and started to shatter windows. That is when court documents show SWAT was called and the nearly five hour situation began.
“We always want to prioritize safety of life over property in any situation,” said Carson. “So, we are really glad that nobody was harmed in this whole incident.”
On Friday, the couple was at their home with contractors who were making repairs. They said not only was their home completely trashed, but they said some family items were damaged, like one of their mother’s vases that was broken by the suspect. They said they had been working with insurance to see how to move forward.