Man Surrenders After Standoff

Sat., May 18, 1996

From Staff And Wire Reports

A nearly 16-hour standoff ended Friday morning when an armed Okanogan County man surrendered to authorities.

Timothy S. Braya, 57, of Wauconda, Wash., was arrested on charges of eluding police, being a felon in possession of a firearm, intimidating a public servant, and reckless driving.

Braya, a mechanic and welder, turned himself over to authorities at 11 a.m. after working out an agreement with a deputy and a neighbor. No charges were filed against his wife, Darlene Edgley, 41.

The trouble began about 7 p.m. Thursday when a sheriff’s deputy spotted a man, who had a 9-year-old girl in his pickup, driving erratically on a county road in mountainous northeastern Okanogan County.

The deputy tried to stop the pickup, which sped recklessly away, according to the sheriff’s office.

Several miles later, the driver quickly turned into a driveway on Pontiac Ridge Road, jumped out and ran into the house.

The deputy followed but was ordered to leave by a woman armed with a handgun and the man, who came out of the house with an SKS assault rifle, the sheriff’s office said.

The deputy left and members of the sheriff’s office, U.S. Border Patrol and the Washington State Patrol later surrounded the house.

During the night, the wanted man called a neighbor on a citizen’s band radio and asked that the neighbor pick up his children because he and his wife expected a shootout, the sheriff’s office said.

The neighbor took the children to his home, then returned to talk with the man. Eventually, a deputy also spoke with him. He refused to surrender at that time, but did so Friday morning.

, DataTimes

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