SEATTLE – A nine-hour standoff at a house in a rural area outside of North Bend ended Tuesday night after the hostage was released and the armed suspect taken into custody by police.
King County SWAT and hostage negotiators spent all day at the residence in the Wilderness Rim area after a man held a woman hostage at gunpoint and refused to come out Tuesday morning.
Negotiators managed to convince the 41-year-old male suspect to release the 39-year-old female hostage. She was escorted safely away and reunited with family.
The suspect was eventually persuaded to leave the house around 7:15 p.m. As he was walking out the house, he stumbled and accidentally shot himself in the chest, say King County sheriff's officials.
Police were able to seize the suspect's gun and bring in medics, who transported the suspect to Harborview Medical Center. The suspect suffered non-life threatening injuries.
Officials say the suspect, upon his released from the hospital, will be booked into King County Jail.
