By Polly Keary, Editor
A former U.S. Marine who called a military crisis line and said that he was thinking of killing himself ended up in a morning-long, armed standoff with police Wednesday.
At about 6 a.m., crisis workers alerted the Monroe Police Department that a man in an house on 160th and 179th was armed and threatening to harm himself.
Members of the North Sound Metro SWAT Team, which includes officers from Monroe and other area police forces, arrived on the scene and evacuated nearby houses.
The schools in the area remained open, as the house was not on the main arterial but recessed in a neighborhood, but the school district was notified, as were bus drivers.
Initially the man, 23, who had been staying at his father's house for about a week, spoke to a sergeant on the phone, but then fired a shot and said he would hurt anyone who came to the door.
The SWAT team went on to have several more conversations with the man, who seemed to be heavily intoxicated and distraught over the end of a romantic relationship.
Finally the man agreed to surrender, and at about 11:30 a.m. emerged from the house with his arms raised. He was alone in the house during the standoff.
He was arrested for aiming and discharging a firearm. Monroe Police Spokeswoman Deb Willis said that the man seemed to have little recall of the event.
"I believe a large amount of alcohol was involved," said Willis.
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