Woman arrested after allegedly threatening Arby’s employee with gun

A Spokane County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team arrested a woman Sunday after she allegedly threatened an Arby’s employee with a gun.

Michelle R. Warne, also known as Michelle Schultz, 36, was charged with first-degree assault following the incident. According to court documents, she came into the Arby’s at 14414 N. Newport Highway Sunday afternoon and started saying, “There is people after me.”

Witnesses told deputies Warne pulled out a semi-automatic pistol and began swinging it around before pointing it at an employee and asking, “Are you one of them?” Court documents say Warne then left the restaurant with her daughter.

Deputies located Warne inside a home on East Tudor Court and called for the SWAT team and hostage negotiators, court documents say. Warne and her daughter were locked in a bedroom and came out peacefully after two hours of negotiation, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Warne’s daughter told deputies she was in the bedroom willingly and was trying to calm her mother down. She was not arrested or charged.