Man Threatened Portland, OR, Firefighters with 'Edged Weapon'
Beth Slovic
oregonlive.com
(TNS)
An eight-hour police standoff on Southeast Division Street came to a close just before 10 p.m. Thursday when Portland police arrested a man who barricaded himself inside his apartment after allegedly starting fires inside.
The man, whom police declined to identify, had drawn an “edged weapon” at firefighters who responded to the apartment in the 4300 block of Southeast Division Street around 2 p.m.
They saw no active fire inside his apartment and called for help from police, who sent a crisis negotiation team to the scene.
Many residents were evacuated from the building and were blocked from reentering as police encouraged the man to come out and used increasingly tougher measures, including sending in drones and a robot.
Police also used tear gas to force the man out of his hiding spot.
“Time is a tactic for de-escalation,” said Sgt. Kevin Allen, a Portland Police Bureau spokesperson.
No one was injured in the arrest.
Residents of the apartment building who gathered outside the police lines said the tenant had been a problem for years and that they had repeatedly complained to the building’s managers.
Police were in the process of letting residents back into the building around 10 p.m.
Southeast Division Street has reopened to traffic.
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