Man found dead after standoff, fire in West Seattle

SEATTLE — A fire was burning at a West Seattle home where a standoff was underway Friday.

The incident brought dozens of firefighters, SWAT deputies, and the bomb disposal unit.

“It’s, it’s very unnerving,” said Paul Gomez, a neighbor.

King County officials told KIRO 7's Deedee Sun around 1 p.m. the man inside involved was dead.

The home is close to 42nd Avenue Southwest and Southwest Findlay Street.

KIRO 7 Reporter Deedee Sun was at the scene where she was told that live rounds where going off inside the house.

Police said around 2:30 p.m. an explosive device was found inside the house. They later announced a correction that the device they found was not actually explosive.

Onlookers were moved further away from the area.

The house is surrounded by trees and bushes and almost impossible to see.

"But you could peek through the laurel and see the house which was pretty decrepit,” said Janice Henderickson, another neighbor.

The sheriff’s office said the house was falling apart and there were also two cars on the property with moss on them that clearly hadn’t been driven in years.

A civil unit had been at the home to serve an eviction notice, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office.

“The sheriff’s office civil unit has been working, trying to get this gentleman to leave peacefully since January,” said Sgt. Jason Houck, with the King County Sheriff’s Office. “It came to the point where we actually needed to physically come here and evict him."

The sheriff’s office said the man had more than 20 guns registered to him at the address.

Houck said it’s also possible the man was dealing with mental health issues.

“Obviously that heightened our concern for this to the safety of everybody,” Houck said.

He said the SWAT team was called just in case. SWAT tried to make contact but before they could, they noticed the house was on fire.

“While they were at the door they heard a pop, and they started seeing fire from this structure,” said Hilton Almond, with the Seattle Fire Department.

“It’s extremely sad all the way around. It’s something we don’t see around this neighborhood at all,” Gomez said.

“Scary, sad. Mostly sad that it had to come down to this,” Henderickson said.

Cox Media Group