It was a long St. Patrick’s Day for many Wilderness Rim residents as police surrounded a home, blocked off streets accessing about half of the large development and worked to defuse a volatile hostage situation.
Around 10AM, Tuesday, March 17, 2015, the King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) responded to a domestic hostage situation at a Wilderness Rim area home near North Bend, where an armed man barricaded himself inside the home with a female hostage.
King County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team, Hostage Negotiation Team and numerous deputies and detectives spent all day working to end the standoff that began when someone called 911 to report a male and female in a disturbance at the residence, stating the male had a gun to the woman’s head.
When officers arrived at the home, the residents involved refused to come out. No children were in the home at the time.
Neighbors said they were advised to stay inside their homes and lock doors. Police closed off a section of the Wilderness Rim neighborhood during the the nine-hour standoff, in which residents estimated at least two dozen police vehicles responded.
Some Snoqualmie Valley School District afternoon bus routes were disrupted due to the street closures. Wilderness Rim students were kept on school campuses after dismissal and parents provided alternate transportation.
At about 3:4oPM, negotiators finally convinced the armed man to release the 39-year old female hostage. The King County Sheriff’s Office said she was safely escorted away from the home by deputies and then reunited with family.
By 7:15PM, the suspect vacated the house after SWAT team units deployed noise and gas charges into the house. As he was exiting the home, KCSO said he stumbled, accidentally shooting himself in the chest.
His non life threatening injuries were first treated by medics at the scene and he was then transported to Harborview Medical Center.
The KCSO stated the suspected will be booked into King County Jail upon his release from the hospital and the King County Major Crimes unit will investigate the incident further.
