The Lower Columbia SWAT team on Tuesday detained a Castle Rock man allegedly armed with a machete and threatening to kill people.
After speaking with a crisis negotiator, law enforcement officers detained Peter Niemi, 40, who was booked at about 5 p.m. into the Cowlitz County Jail on suspicion of first-degree burglary and two counts of felony harassment.
Niemi has a preliminary appearance at 1 p.m. Wednesday in Cowlitz County Superior Court.
Deputies from the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched around 2 p.m. to a residence on Guinevere Court in Castle Rock, off West Side Highway, due to a report of a man who had entered a home without permission, armed with a machete, according to Chief Criminal Deputy Troy Brightbill.
Niemi allegedly fled on foot towards the dredge spoils along the Cowlitz River as deputies arrived. The SWAT team and a crisis negotiator were called, with the negotiator reaching Niemi by phone and getting him to surrender.
