Bail was set at $500,000 for a 45-year-old man arrested Wednesday following a three-hour police standoff at an apartment complex in east Vancouver.
John C. Picanco made an initial court appearance in Clark County Superior Court on Thursday morning, court records show. Picanco faces charges of first-degree burglary, second-degree assault and harassment that included death threats.
Police were first dispatched about 8 a.m. to a weapons disturbance at First Street Apartments in the 300 block of Southeast 166th Avenue. Police temporarily blocked off a section of Southeast First Street, an arterial street.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Picanco and Lola S. Pinson were visiting the apartment of Richard Turner. The three are apparently friends. Pinson left around midnight, leaving the two men in the apartment.
After the woman left, Picanco accused Turner of having an affair with her.
Picanco told Turner he’d kill him if the accusation turned out to be true, according to the affidavit.
Picanco was asked to leave the apartment and did so, but he came back an hour later, barging in without knocking, according to the affidavit.
The men then talked to Pinson, passing a phone back and forth, while Picanco allegedly held a gun to Turner’s head, according to the affidavit. Turner escaped when Picanco went into another room.
SWAT officers obtained a search warrant, deployed tear gas and arrested Picanco, who told police he was invited back inside the apartment, never made any threats and his firearm was actually a pellet gun.
That claim about the gun turned out to be true; police found it in some bushes outside the apartment building.
In an interview with police, Turner said he “absolutely believed John was going to kill him,” and there was no indication “to believe the gun was anything other than real,” the affidavit says.
Booking paperwork from Clark County Jail says Picanco is transient. Court records show he has previous convictions for malicious mischief, arson and domestic violence-related assault.
Picanco’s arraignment hearing was set for Aug. 16.
