We asked police to confirm details of an incident we heard over the air this afternoon, involving an armed 93-year-old man arrested after taking his wife from Quail Park of West Seattle, and received this summary a few minutes ago in response:
At about 1:30 p.m., patrol officers responded to reports of a man with a gun at a permanent care facility in the 4500 block of 41st Avenue Southwest. While [they] responded to the call, officers learned that the suspect, 93, was the elderly husband of one of the residents, a 90-year-old woman. The armed man took his wife and left the facility before police arrived.
Officers, with the assistance of the King County Sheriff’s Office, found the man and his wife in Burien. Police and KCSO deputies stopped the vehicle they were in and arrested the suspect without incident and recovered the gun as evidence. Officers booked the suspect into the King County Jail for felony harassment and felony assault.
Police determined that the elderly victim was extremely confused, unable to care for herself, and uncooperative with officers and the Community Service Officers. She refused to go back to the care facility. Instead, she wanted to be released to walk home, where she no longer lives. Police requested an ambulance to take her to the hospital for medical evaluation.
Detectives in the Gun Violence Reduction Unit are assigned to this case.
Radio exchanges during the incident indicated the man was headed to Burien because he lives there, while his wife is a Quail Park resident.