After a four-hour standoff between Thurston County SWAT and a domestic violence suspect near Terra Glenn Street Southeast and 99th Avenue Southeast in Yelm, one suspect has been arrested and booked into the Nisqually Jail on charges of fourth-degree assault, domestic violence, and obstruction of a police officer.
Yelm Police Department Assistant Chief Tillman Atkins confirmed the allegations in an interview with the Nisqually Valley News after the incident concluded with an arrest. He said the male suspect was set to be treated for injuries sustained from a police K9 bite at the end of the hours-long standoff.
Atkins also confirmed that the K9 left the scene without any injuries sustained, noting “he’s safe.”
The Yelm Police Department originally arrived at the scene around 10 a.m. after a report of domestic violence, Atkins said. The suspect was the only person inside the residence on Terra Glenn Street Southeast when Yelm police arrived at the scene; however, law enforcement initially suspected that the suspect was armed. Atkins said based on the totality of the situation, Thurston County SWAT intervened with the assistance of crisis negotiators.
Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders, who left the standoff in Yelm early to assist on a Thurston County Narcotics Task Force arrest, according to a social media post. He wrote online that the suspect in Yelm was believed to be armed with an AR15. Atkins later told the Nisqually Valley News that the suspect was “possibly armed.”
Thurston County’s mobile command unit arrived in the Yelm neighborhood at 1:18 p.m. and began giving the suspect verbal instructions around 1:25 p.m. over a loud megaphone to exit the home with his hands up. At 1:42 p.m., the SWAT team breached the front door of the house. The suspect was barricaded in, and an arrest was made shortly thereafter.
Though the suspect had barricaded himself in an upstairs room inside of the residence, the arrest was made outside of the home after assistance from a K9 unit.
The agencies that make up Thurston County SWAT include the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office, Lacey Police Department, Olympia Police Department, Tumwater Police Department, Yelm Police Department, a tactical paramedic from Tumwater Fire Department and one emergency room doctor from Providence St. Peter Hospital, according to thurstoncountywa.gov.
Atkins said the best possible outcome occurred.