Shortly after 5 pm Monday evening, all lanes of northbound 1-5 were closed down near 116th Street in Marysville as police arrested a man who they said was seen pointing a gun at people as he drove near the freeway.
The Marysville Police Department told KIRO that multiple people called the police and described the man and his vehicle with enough accuracy that an officer was able to quickly identify him and follow him onto the highway.
After pursuing the man, officers from Marysville PD conducted a “high-risk” traffic stop and did not approach the car because the man was reported to be armed.
The department told KIRO that when the police had stopped the man’s car, he seemed to be “in some kind of distress” and was having trouble “comprehending or understanding the commands to get out of the car”.
When officers struggled to communicate with the man, units from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office arrived and used pepperball guns and a K9 unit to get the man out of his car, according to the department.
During the arrest, traffic on I-5 northbound shut down completely. According to the Washington State Department of Transportation, the backup stretched for up to 5 miles before police began re-opening lanes shortly before 6 pm.
The department told KIRO that the man is a 39-year-old from Lake Stevens. He was arrested on second-degree assault charges and is, as of Monday evening, in custody at the Marysville Police Department.
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