NOON: Since the 6 am hour, we’ve been covering a standoff that’s led police to close off much of Harbor Avenue SW, between the bridge and California Way. A man broke into one of the vacant buildings at the old Sea-Way site around 3 am. He has refused to surrender. For a while he was inside; you cannot clearly see him in the reader photo above, but for some time he has been outside one building’s window, on an awning/ledge section. The SWAT team and negotiators have been on site for hours trying to talk him into giving up; he’s reported to be wielding a foot-long piece of broken glass as well as a screwdriver. Harbor remains closed at the bridge and at California Way. Some bicyclists have reported that the path was closed as well as the road. Our photographer, who went to the scene for a while early this morning, is back there now so we’ll have updates from him as well as via scanner.
12:23 PM: Our crew reports this is coming to an end. The man apparently tried to bolt, and was taken into custody.
12:28 PM: Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Pierre Davis tells us at the scene that they’ll get Harbor Avenue reopened as fast as they can – hopefully within 15 minutes or so.
12:49 PM: Per scanner, reopening now. We will update with more photos and followup info a bit later.
2:20 PM: Two more photos added above, including the man as he came down from the ledge. It wasn’t clear from radio communication at the time whether he was being taken to Harborview for evaluation or directly to jail; SPD media relations says the former.
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