A SWAT team took a man into custody in Southwest Washington on Thursday after an hours-long standoff.
A spokesperson with the Clark County Sheriff's Office said the man fired a gun when deputies responded to a family disturbance.
The incident started at about 1:40 p.m. when family members called law enforcement to report a relative had assaulted an elderly family member by punching him in the face and knocking him to the ground at a property near the Fargher Lake community in La Center, Washington.
Family said the relative was drunk and possibly suicidal.
When deputies arrived and tried to talk with the family, the man “shot off a round towards the roadway” from a detached barn away from the main house.
Deputies went into the house and helped evacuate everyone living there, CCSO spokesperson Sgt. Christopher Skidmore said.
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While using a drone to check out the property, the man came out of the barn a second time and fired another round.
Members of the SWAT team entered the barn to arrest the man, but he was able to escape and hide in the woods around the property.
Deputies used a drone to keep an eye on the man, who had tried to stay hidden from view in some brush near a creek.
The SWAT team eventually was able to take the man into custody without incident.
The sheriff's office identified the man as 57-year-old David D. McCandless of La Center. He was taken to jail where he faces charges of fourth-degree assault and reckless endangerment.
In a news release, Skidmore said deputies had been called to the home the day before. At that time, McCandless was reportedly suicidal and armed with a gun in the basement. Family members said they believed he wasn't a threat to anyone, and deputies spoke to him over the phone. They offered to connect him to mental health services or give him a ride to a hospital for an evaluation, but McCandless declined the help.
Deputies left when the situation had calmed.