Olympia - Area Man Arrested After Breaking Into Home, Holding Owner Hostage
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Posted Monday, December 13th, 2021 9:52pm
TY Vinson
Olympia Police were dispatched at around 3 p.m. Sunday to a residence in the 2500 block of Columbia Street NW in the South Capitol neighborhood. According to a neighbor who called 911, a person had exited a residence in the area with his hands up yelling for someone to call the police.
Lt. Paul Lower said the man was the owner of the house and that he had come home to a random man in his house. He confronted the man and was attacked and wrestled to the ground. The suspect took his phone and made him sit on the couch. He then moved the homeowner downstairs to the basement where he then helped clean the man’s “very injured right thumb.”
As the suspect was changing in the bathroom the homeowner managed to escape to outside, where he yelled for help. He had been kept in the house for about an hour.
Officers developed probable cause for multiple felony crimes, including residential burglary, robbery and unlawful imprisonment, leading to a search of the house. They found the basement had been barricaded but the suspect was nowhere to be seen.
It was then determined the suspect had fled on foot. He was located on the grounds of the East Capitol Campus and was taken into custody. Lower said police used a field fingerprint machine to identify the man as a 42-year-old transient man.
It was determined that the man’s thumb was severely infected and needed medical attention, and he was sent to Harborview Medical Center by ambulance. Police contacted designated crisis responders who determined they were going to evaluate the man’s mental health once his thumb has been taken care of, and charges of robbery in the first degree, kidnapping and burglary were referred to the Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney’s office.