SWAT Team & SPD K9 Successfully Locate Suspect
Early this morning, Spokane County Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team members, assisted by a Spokane Police Department K9 Unit, located a suspect in the basement of a home after he broke the front window and entered the front room where the victim had been sleeping. The homeowner was not injured.
On April 11, 2019, at approximately 4:30 a.m., Spokane County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a reported burglary at a residence located in the 8500 block of N. Atlantic. Initially, Spokane County Fire District 9 responded to the residence for a medical call due to an emergency alert activation. Arriving fire personnelnoticed the front window of the residence was smashed and requested Deputies to assist with a possible burglary.
Deputies contacted the elderly female homeowner and helped her out of the residence to safety. She told Deputies at approximately 3:30 a.m., she was asleep in the living room of the residence when she heard glass breaking. In the darkness, she initially noticed a leg come through the large front window and watched as a male, later identified as 29-year-old Tyler L. Weed, made his way into the residence and fall on the floor of her living room. Weed told her he was trying to get out of the cold as he made his way to a recliner and sat down. He sat there for several minutes and would not say anything else. Weed got up, walked into the kitchen for several minutes before returning to the living room where he sat down in the recliner again.
The victim, obviously fearful, with no idea why Weed broke into her home, tried to remain calm as she sat in her chair and prayed. She was wearing a Brinks Home Monitor Alert Button but didn’t activate it because she was fearful of how Weed would react. After approximately 40 minutes, with no signs Weed planned to leave, she pushed the button activating the emergency alert system. Soon after, the monitoring company called her phone but because she didn’t want to possibly anger Weed causing him to become violent, she did not answer. This prompted the initial medical call and fire’s response. Brinks also contacted the victim’s neighbor who helps care for the victim. She walked next door to check on the victim and called 911 after learning of the break-in.
The victim explained she didn’t see Weed after he walked into the kitchen a second time, but she believed he was still inside her house and probably in the basement.
Deputies did not receive a response to their numerous commands for Weed to announce himself and surrender. Not knowing if Weed was armed and with his extremely odd behavior once he forcefully entered the victim’s home, the SWAT Team, Negotiators and a Spokane Police Department K9 Officer Fabian and his K9 King were called to assist.
Once on scene, after numerous hails went unanswered, SWAT Team members and the SPD K9 Unit worked together to implement a planned, slow and methodical search for the suspect. Weed was located hiding under a mound of blankets on a bed in the basement of the home. Soon after, he was safely taken into custody.
During the investigation, Deputies learned two of the victim’s garage doors and windows had been damaged in addition to the large front window of her residence. The cost to replace the damage was estimated to be over $2000.
Weed was transported and booked into the Spokane County Jail for Residential Burglary and Malicious Mischief 2nd Degree.
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Corporal Mark Gregory
Spokane County Sheriff’s Office
Spokane Valley Police Department
Public Information Officer