Spokane police negotiate with stabbing suspect for over a half hour Sunday

A stabbing suspect holed up in a bathroom refused to surrender to police Sunday evening.

At about 9 p.m., Spokane police officers responded to a stabbing in the 1300 block of West Boone Avenue, where a tenant in an apartment building told police his neighbor had been stabbed by an acquaintance, police said in a news release.

Arriving officers contacted the victim and learned the suspect, 44-year-old Shane L. Johnson, had barricaded himself in the victim’s bathroom. He was apparently high on drugs, police said, and was armed with a knife while making comments that he would “stab law enforcement officers” who tried to apprehend him.

Officers negotiated for more than a half hour before breaching the bathroom and taking Johnson into custody. He sustained minor injuries during the arrest, police said.

Johnson faces a charge of second-degree assault.

The stabbing victim was taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.