A Vancouver man made a first appearance Thursday in Clark County Superior Court after allegedly barging into a home along the Columbia River on Wednesday night and locking himself inside, claiming the house was his.
Irving Diaz-Rodriguez, 18, appeared on suspicion of first-degree burglary in connection with the incident.
Vancouver police Sgt. Mike Chylack said police received a report at about 5:25 p.m. of a man demanding to get inside a house that he claimed was his in the 11000 block of Southeast Evergreen Highway.
By the time police arrived, however, the man had left, Chylack said. About 25 minutes later, police received a call that a man was at a nearby home and had gained entry into the house.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed in Superior Court, the man, identified as Diaz-Rodriguez, knocked on the door of 10617 S.E. Burlington Drive. When one of the residents, 72-year-old David Weisen, answered the door, Diaz-Rodriguez said it was his residence and he wanted inside.
Weisen tried to push Diaz-Rodriguez out of the doorway, but Diaz-Rodriguez punched him in the throat, the affidavit said.
A fight ensued, according to court records, and Diaz-Rodriguez rushed inside the home and locked Weisen outside.
Two family members, Weisen’s wife, Patty Weisen, and their granddaughter, hid from Diaz-Rodriguez in a locked bedroom until police arrived.
Patty Weisen told KATU-TV that she and her 14-year-old granddaughter hid in a closet.
“Man, the adrenaline was just flowing,” Weisen told KATU. “I mean my heart desired to come down and try to help my husband, but I also knew that my husband was capable of taking care of himself, which he was.”
Officers arrived, broke through the house’s front door and arrested Diaz-Rodriguez, according to the Vancouver Police Department.
No one at either house knows him, Chylack said.
He said police don’t know what made Diaz-Rodriguez claim that he lived in either house.
On Thursday, Diaz-Rodriguez was appointed defense attorney Jeff Staples to represent him. Judge Suzan Clark set Diaz-Rodriguez’s bail at $50,000.
He will be arraigned Feb. 18.
KATU-TV contributed to this report.
