Armed man arrested by SWAT team

An armed Montana man refused to come out of a house on East Pacific Avenue early Tuesday before surrendering to the Spokane Police SWAT team just after 10 a.m.

Assistant Chief Jim Nicks said three residents of 2218 E. Pacific Ave. called police at 2:15 a.m. after 33-year-old Shannon T. Woody, of Lincoln County, Mont., fired shots from a handgun and threatened them with it.

“The patrol officers evaluated it, made sure everyone was out of the house and were going to let him sleep it off,” Nicks said.

“He didn’t appear to be an imminent threat to anyone in the house or the community.”

Officers then checked Woody’s criminal history and talked with authorities from Lincoln County. The Montana authorities said Woody had a history of drug use, mental illness and violence, Nicks said.

“They have had a lot of contact with him. They consider him to be dangerous,” Nicks said.

Police called in the SWAT team and closed down area streets to contain Woody.

Woody spoke with negotiators on the telephone.

“First we had to convince him we were police officers. Then we had to convince him he was in Spokane. He thought he was in Kootenai County,” Nicks said.

Woody left the house at 10:03 a.m. Officers later found two guns in the home and evidence where three shots had been fired into the wall.

Neighbor Jody Sanchez, 42, said she was at home when she heard her neighbors and Woody screaming.

“They said Shannon was in the bathroom with a gun. They said he shot it and it almost hit” the man who lives there, Sanchez said. “When I heard there were guns, I left.”

She left her house locked, but returned just after 10 a.m. to find her doors unlocked and the front door open. Her dog, a shepherd mix named Babbett, was missing.

Police “wouldn’t let me through. Then I saw this tank thing in front of my house,” Sanchez said. “Now I’m freaking out. Where’s my dog?”

Police spokesman Dick Cottam said SWAT members knocked on Sanchez’s door. Another couple staying at that house answered the door and left with the dog hours before Sanchez came home.

Woody was booked into the Spokane County Jail on felony charges of second-degree assault and unlawful imprisonment, Cottam said. Residents told police that Woody fired several shots but never aimed the gun or wounded any of them.

When officers took him into custody, Woody said there were guns in the house, Nicks said. “He also indicated that there were bombs and he had access to bomb-making material. We are looking into that.”

Woody’s car was later found in a downtown Spokane park. No bombs were found.

“He’s not really coherent,” Nicks said of Woody. “He’s giving us good information. And he is also giving us bizarre information.”