A bizarre standoff at a Washington state shopping mall ended when Vancouver police yanked away a ladder from a knife-carrying suspect crawling through the ceiling of a Macys, sending him crashing onto a waiting mattress.
According to The Gateway Pundit, officers were called to the Vancouver Mall after Macys employees reported someone moving above the ceiling tiles, smashing panels and damaging lights and wiring. Police and firefighters set up a ladder and spent nearly an hour attempting to coax the man down, as shoppers were cleared from the malls second floor for safety.
Court records identify the suspect as 21-year-old Gabriel Hideo, who allegedly growled and made incoherent noises while maneuvering through the ceiling space. When Hideo briefly stepped onto the ladder and then tried to retreat back into the ceiling, officers abruptly pulled the ladder away, forcing him to drop onto the mattress below and attempt a short-lived escape on foot.
They had a conveniently located mattress for us to be able to pull over there, and so in case he fell, because there was definitely an opportunity, with not a lot of footing up there, for him to fall out, Vancouver Police Department public information officer Kim Kapp told KIRO Newsradio. And he eventually came down the ladder a few rungs, and we were able to pull the ladder out. He fell onto the mattress, and we were able to get him into custody, Kapp said.
We have to be creative sometimes, but at the end of the day, everybody went home safely, Kapp added. Once Hideo was detained, officers discovered he was carrying a large fixed-blade knife, and he was booked on charges of first-degree burglary and first-degree malicious mischief, as well as held on an existing felony warrantanother reminder of why law and order, and the officers who enforce it, remain essential to public safety in Americas communities.
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