Suspects trying to flee police break into Edmonds man’s home

Suspects breaking into an Edmonds home on Saturday night triggered a massive police response.

Edmonds police say suspects in a stolen Lexus were trying to flee from officers, and barged inside a man’s home in the 8700 block of Main Street – sparking a standoff.

One of the three suspects, a 29-year-old woman, is still on the run.

Edmonds police Commander Josh McClure says the victim’s home seemed to be targeted at random. He said the homeowner was inside the house when the fleeing suspects ran in through the back door around 7:30 p.m.

“He didn’t know them recognize them, they certainly didn’t have permission to be there, and he (the victim) just ran out of his house,” Cmdr. McClure said.

“I can’t imagine,” said Mike Derks, a neighbor. “The neighbor was down there you could hear him talking to the cops down there on the sidewalk. And he was pretty wound up.”

The incident led to an hour-long standoff between police and two of the suspects, though the crime scene lasted much longer.

Another neighbor shared a video from the scene – where more than a dozen police cars lined the block.

“Exit the house immediately,” you can hear law enforcement shout through a loudspeaker. “Put your hands up open and empty!”

Police say a third suspect, the 29-year-old woman, ran away. A third neighbor’s ring video shows officers searching the area with K9s.

“Come out now,” an officer said in the video. “My dog won’t bite you – well, he may bite you and it’s going to hurt.”

That suspect got away. But the two barricaded suspects eventually surrendered.

Edmonds police say incidents like this are more common than you might think.

“A lot of times when suspects are trying to get away, there’s a desperation factor,” McClure said. “And people will try to get into homes a lot of times to look for sets of car keys, for a car to get out of the area.”

Now, neighbors who say the area is usually pretty quiet - are rattled.

“They could’ve ran to our house,” said Tracy Jay. “So we’re going to be locking stuff up more now. We just know the crime’s getting bad everywhere.”

McClure said the stolen Lexus the suspects were in was taken out of Tacoma.

The two arrested suspects are a 45-year-old woman from Lakewood and a 28-year-old man from Spanaway. Both were booked into the Snohomish County Jail. They’re expected to have a court appearance on Monday.