A 17-year-old boy was arrested after he allegedly broke into a house this morning in Vancouver’s Minnehaha area, with the homeowner still inside.
The victim said she heard someone knocking on the door of her residence in the 4000 block of Northeast Saint Johns Road, but did not answer. She later discovered someone had rifled through her bedroom, and then found an unknown male going through her belongings in another room, according to the Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp.
She ran out of the house and flagged down a passerby to use their cell phone to call 911. The passerby went to the victim’s resident and confronted the suspect, who was still inside, holding a gun that belonged to the resident, Kapp said. Then, the suspect jumped off the balcony at the back of the house and ran away.
Vancouver police were sent to the house and searched the area for the suspect using a police dog. Truman Elementary School was temporarily locked down for about 15 minutes shortly after 9 a.m., according to Vancouver Public Schools.
The 17-year-old suspect, whose name is not being released because he’s a juvenile, was found nearby, arrested and booked into the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center on suspicion of residential burglary, first-degree assault and theft of a firearm. Police recovered the firearm.
