An alleged burglar and kidnapper remained at large late Thursday after handcuffing a woman in her home in the Rose Village neighborhood — and fleeing when her husband wrested a gun from the intruder and fired a shot at him, police said.
The 5 p.m. incident drew many Vancouver officers to the area, most carrying rifles or shotguns as a tracking dog tried to sniff out the man’s trail down streets and through backyards.
A dozen or more SWAT and patrol officers took positions at intersections around the area of the St. Johns IGA supermarket and Bill’s Chicken & Steak House in the 2200 block of St. Johns Boulevard. At least twice, officers detained men who partially resembled the intruder, and later released them.
The manhunt began after a woman ran from her home in the 2300 block of East 27th Street to the nearby IGA and asked for help. Officials originally were told she’d been shot, but later learned she suffered only minor injuries.
A next-door neighbor of the injured woman told news reporters she saw her fleeing her home in handcuffs.
The victim, not yet identified by police, said she came home and found an unknown man inside, and the man restrained her with handcuffs.
Minutes later, she told police, her husband came home and saw her handcuffed and the intruder armed with a gun that belonged to the residents, said Kim Kapp, spokeswoman for the Vancouver Police Department.
The husband wrestled with the intruder and managed to pull the gun from his grasp. When the intruder fled, the husband fired a gunshot in his direction but apparently missed, Kapp said.
The intruder was described as a Latino in his 20s who wore white shorts, a white T-shirt and a silver neck chain. He had tattoo work on his left hand.
One woman told officers she’d found an iPhone in a yellow case in her backyard, and that it wasn’t hers.
At one point, a woman crossed St. Johns from the restaurant and told an officer she’d just seen two men with what she thought were several wallets.
As two men walked out of the Shell station minimart, police cars screeched to a stop, overhead lights flashing, and detained them.
One of the men resembled the intruder to an extent — he was wearing a white T-shirt and chains and had arm tattoos.
Officers detained the men, ordered them to put their hands on their heads and frisked them for weapons, finding none.
Officers later released both men.
The man who partially resembled the suspect told The Columbian he wasn’t upset.
“They thought we were the people they were looking for,” he said, declining to give his name. “And which is completely understandable. We want them to do their job.”
As news crews stationed themselves at the victims’ taped-off home, a man believed to be the husband who shot at the intruder spoke with officers including Detective Wally Stefan with the Major Crimes Unit. The man then entered Stefan’s unmarked car and sat in the front passenger seat, and Stefan drove away to further interview him.
