Samurai Sword-Wielding Man Arrested After Standoff, Alleged Threats To Kill In Chelan
A Chelan County man is behind bars after police say he threatened a neighbor with dangerous weapons and damaged their property on Tuesday morning.
The Chelan County Sheriff's Office says deputies were dispatched at around 10 a.m. to reports of a disturbance in the 200 block of Mystic Creek Lane in Chelan.
They arrived at the scene to find a suspect, 56-year-old Jose Franco Nunez, screaming from the top of an adjacent hill and armed with what appeared to be a rifle.
As deputies approached the hill it became evident that Nunez did not possess a rifle, but rather was armed with two Samurai-style swords.
When deputies closed in on Nunez, he ran down the hill and began banging on the door of a mobile home located at the property. After which, the resident of the mobile home stepped outside in an attempt to find out what what causing the commotion.
In that moment, investigators say Nunez threatened the resident with the swords and proceeded to smash two windows of a vehicle belonging to them that was parked outside the mobile home.
As Nunez was vandalizing the vehicle, deputies were able to reach the victim and move them to safety.
A short time later, Nunez was observed returning to his residence at the property, where he picked up a golf club and smashed out one of his home's windows before going inside.
When deputies reportedly issued commands for Nunez to come outside, he allegedly threatened to "blow them up" and brandish a firearm.
As communications between deputies and Nunez continued through the window he'd allegedly broken, the East Cascade SWAT Team was called to the location and, after repeated attempts to get Nunez to surrender were unsuccessful, its members deployed pepper projectiles which were eventually able to subdue him.
Nunez was arrested and booked into the Chelan County Regional Justice Center for first-degree burglary; second-degree assault; second-degree malicious mischief; third-degree theft; and making threats to kill (harassment).
Authorities did not indicate what might have predicated the incident but did say they were already familiar with Nunez after having made several previous contacts with him at the site of Tuesday's standoff.