Skip to main content

The Today File

Your guide to the latest news from around the Northwest

January 28, 2013 at 9:51 AM

Man breaks into Seattle building under construction, threatens to jump

Seattle police arrested a 40-year-old man early this morning after he broke into a building under construction and kept officers at bay for several hours by threatening to jump.

Police responded to First Avenue at 10:20 p.m. Sunday after receiving reports of gunshots fired. The officers determined shots had not been fired, but they heard someone yelling and throwing items from the roof of a nearby building under construction in the 1900 block of Second Avenue, police said.

Officers climbed to the eighth floor of the building and found the man brandishing a two-and-a-half-foot-long piece of rebar, police said. After the man refused commands to drop the weapon, officers used a Taser on him, but it had no effect, police said.  The man then ran to a safety railing, climbed over and stood on the ledge, eight floors above the street, according to police.

Police negotiators spoke with the man for several hours before he surrendered, police said. He was booked into the King County Jail for investigation of burglary.

Comments | More in The Blotter | Topics: police standoff, Seattle Police Department

About The Today File

The Today File is a general news blog featuring real-time coverage of Seattle and the Northwest. It is reported by the news staff of The Seattle Times and edited by Assistant Metro Editor Nick Provenza.

Please send feedback about this blog to webmaster@seattletimes.com, and direct news tips to newstips@seattletimes.com.

Advertising

Seattle Times Needle cam

Trending with readers

On Facebook

Recent Activity

Advertising

Multimedia

Advertising

Advertising

Your free access has ended.

Subscribe today for unlimited access! Our introductory rate of only 99¢ a week includes:

  • Unlimited access to seattletimes.com
  • Seattle Times smartphone and tablet Web apps
  • Daily Print Replica -- an exact digital copy of the newspaper
Subscription options

Already a subscriber?

Digital access is already included with your print subscription!

Log in with your MyTimes account:
Subscriber login

If you've never used MyTimes:
Register your subscription