The King County Sheriff’s Office is reporting that a potentially volatile situation in Burien with an armed suspect came to a peaceful conclusion recently:

“We’re sharing the story because it’s a great example of how policing has evolved with and how skilled our deputies are at de-escalating dangerous situations when possible,” police said.

On Sunday Nov. 10, 2019, deputies in Burien went to arrest a man for felony domestic violence assault.

The male suspect came outside holding a rifle and refused to drop it. The man went back into the house but left the front door open, and for an hour deputies negotiated with him.

When the suspect came out of the house with the rifle slung across his body, one of the deputies fired a ‘less lethal’ bean bag, hitting the man twice. That got him to drop the rifle in the driveway. While the suspect ran back in to the house, another deputy was able to grab the rifle and secure it in a patrol car.

Eventually, the suspect came out of the house with his hands in the air and apologized to deputies. He was arrested without further incident.

Photos courtesy King County Sheriff’s Office.

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