Suicide standoff ends peacefully

A suicidal man prompted a SWAT standoff in Spokane County on Saturday.

A few minutes before noon, a couple called police after finding a bloody man in a truck parked near Nevada Street and Magnesium Road, said sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Dave Reagan. The truck had been running for an hour and a half and had a hose running from its exhaust pipe to its cab.

Police thought the 35-year-old man may have been armed with a gun because he is a military reservist, Reagan said. The SWAT team responded after the man refused to exit the vehicle and began revving his engine.

As the team moved in, the man got out of the truck and surrendered.  He had self-inflicted knife wounds to his legs and neck and was transported to a downtown hospital for surgery and a mental evaluation.  A hospital employee said at 4:30 p.m. that the man was still in surgery and no condition could be provided.  

Spokane police officers assisted with traffic control, and Magnesium from Nevada to Crestline Street was closed for more than an hour.