UPDATE:

The man accused of leading police on a chase to a downtown Spokane gas station before barricading himself inside and setting it on fire was arrested late Monday soon after a SWAT team entered the building about 11:30 p.m., Spokane police said in a news release.

The man, Phillip Booher, 49, was taken to a hospital for treatment but was expected to later be transported to the Spokane County Jail. Police said he will face several charges including arson, burglary and assault.

ORIGINAL STORY:

Fire engulfed a downtown Spokane gas station after police used tear gas and flash-bang grenades to try to force the surrender of an armed man barricaded inside.

The man, who has not been identified, remained alive and able to continue talking with police even after smoke and fire raged through the interior of the 76 station at the corner of Second Avenue and Walnut Street.

The incident started with a traffic stop at about 5:30 p.m. along U.S. Highway 2, according to Spokane police Cpl. Teresa Fuller. When a Washington State Patrol trooper pulled over the vehicle the man was a back-seat passenger in, he was not forthcoming with his identity and pointed a handgun at the trooper.

“He told the trooper he was not going back to jail,” Fuller said.

The man then took control of the vehicle after the driver and front-seat passenger exited the car, Fuller said. The WSP trooper pursued the vehicle to the area of Second Avenue and Walnut Street.

The armed man ran into the gas station from the parking lot as police gave chase at about 5:50 p.m. He had asked a clerk to call another woman on his behalf, but she was so rattled and shaking that he made the call himself, said Daune Montel, a gas station employee.

“He was talking about how he wasn’t going back to jail,” Montel said.

The 76 gas station at Second Avenue and Walnut burns after police chased an armed suspect into the building. Monday evening. (Colin Mulvany / The Spokesman-Review)Buy a print of this photo

He told the clerk that he did not wish to hurt her while he had his gun drawn, and told her to leave the gas station as Spokane police, Washington State Patrol troopers and firefighters surrounded the station, she said.

Police negotiators attempted to talk the man into surrendering, but he refused to give up.

Guests at the Tiki Lodge next door who were outside the building were not allowed back into the area as the situation developed, according to witnesses. The people still inside were told to stay in their rooms.

At about 7:15 p.m., police lobbed gas canisters – which police declined to identify – into the building in an attempt to force the man outside. Witnesses heard at least 50 pops and bangs.

At about 7:30 p.m. officers broke the glass walls. Black smoke then poured from the building and within minutes fire engulfed the inside and flames could be seen coming from the roof.

By 8 p.m. firefighters with axes were walking toward the station and police continued to use a loudspeaker to encourage the man to come outside.

At 8:50 p.m. the power to the area was cut and police had made contact once again with the armed man.

The man was still barricaded inside the gas station as of 10:45 p.m. Fuller did not disclose the cause of the fire.