Man surrenders after 9.5-hour standoff with SWAT team

A Vancouver man who allegedly threatened firefighters with a firearm barricaded himself in his house for 9 1/2 hours on Friday before surrendering to SWAT officers shortly before 10 p.m.

Peter Benson, 65, was taken into custody on suspicion of first-degree assault, according to a bulletin from the Vancouver Police Department. No one was injured in the standoff.

The incident occurred at 5330 N.W. Esther St., a single-family house in the Northwest neighborhood. Vancouver police and the interagency SWAT team went to the house after a man reportedly pointed a firearm at firefighters, said Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp.

Vancouver firefighters were called to the scene at 12:33 p.m. after someone set a small fire in a yard. That person went back into the house and pointed a firearm out of a window at the firefighters, Kapp said.

Adjacent neighbors were evacuated from their homes, she said.

At one point, 911 dispatchers apparently got hold of the man, who told them there were people outside trying to set his house on fire, according to emergency radio traffic. He hung up before dispatchers could get more information or transfer the call to police.

Officers, who were camped out in front of the house with armored vehicles, tried a variety of tactics to coax the man outside. Over a loudspeaker they asked him to slowly open the front door and reassured him that if he followed their commands, nobody would get hurt. They also told him that he was under arrest and that they would not leave.

The house was apparently full of belongings that obscured the view inside, according to emergency radio traffic. Officers used robots to attempt to enter the house at several points in the standoff. Officers eventually found Benson under a cover and spoke with him. He eventually surrendered.

The house is owned by Benson, according to county property records.

School lockdowns

Both Benjamin Franklin and Lincoln elementary schools were placed on lockdown, said Amanda Richter, spokeswoman for Vancouver Public Schools.

Franklin went into lock down at 12:52 p.m. During the lockdown, Franklin received a call from CRESA telling the school to evacuate.

“There was a lot of confusion with that,” said Pat Nuzzo, district spokeswoman.

Some of the teachers led their students from their classrooms outside to the school grounds. A couple of parents said that students from some portable classrooms were escorted off campus and hid in a garage at a nearby teacher’s house. When a District Resource Officer saw all the students outside the building, he told them to go back inside the school, Nuzzo said.

Nuzzo surmised that the calls from CRESA were intended for residences, and not for schools in lockdown. Around 2 p.m. the school called parents via an automated system to come pick up their children immediately, Nuzzo said.

Students who walk to school were held at the school until parents picked them up. Franklin Elementary’s school day normally ends at 2:50 p.m.

Lincoln went into lockdown at 12:56 p.m., but that was lifted at 1:41 p.m. Lincoln releases at 3:30 p.m.

“There was a call that someone was in the neighborhood brandishing a weapon,” said Richter. “They went into lockdown as a precaution.”

Our Lady of Lourdes School, a private Catholic school at 4701 N.W. Franklin St., was also on lockdown because of their proximity. The school emailed parents about the lockdown.

Previous encounter

This was the second encounter Benson had with police this week.

On Wednesday night, a neighbor called 911 to report that Benson was burning items inside a recycling bin that he’d placed in the middle of Esther Street on top of a tire, according to documents filed in Clark County District Court.

He also reported seeing Benson throw multiple glass wine bottles onto the roadway. Firefighters arrived to find the burning bin, along with burning pieces of paper and pasta, the documents said. Paper towels and a bag of penne pasta were found on the front steps of Benson’s house.

Benson denied causing the fire and said that he woke up prior to officers arriving and found the fire outside, court documents said. The arresting officer noted in his report that Benson has observable mental health problems.

On Thursday, Benson signed a pretrial agreement stating that he’ll plead guilty to second-degree reckless burning and serve 10 days in jail, as well as seek mental health treatment, court documents said. He’s scheduled to appear in court on the allegations on April 23.

He is scheduled to appear in court on the new charge on Monday.