The Haines Police Department, then the Fire Department, were called to a downtown storage building on Thursday to investigate signs of suspicious activity and smoke in the middle of the day.
The owners of the S&W storage facility in downtown Haines found the door to their building closed and barricaded.
Campbell: “When we got inside, got it open, we realized there was some smoke in the building.”
George Campbell and his wife are the owners.
Campbell: “We cleared it for fire, but called the police, due to some damage noticed. We are still trying to sort everything out.”
Officer Michael Fullerton responded to Campbell’s call.
Fullerton: “Just investigating and making sure the area was safe. We found someone inside the building, who we were aware of as being someone in need of our assistance.”
Police are not releasing his name at this time. Campbell says the person was renting a unit from him and likely suffers from mental illness.
Campbell: “He was sleeping inside the building, and they found him, and after a standoff for a little while they finally got him out, and my understanding is they are sending him for evaluation.”
The person reportedly lit a fire in the building, in what Campbell says was probably an effort to prepare some food. Campbell says before that day there were no signs that the person had stayed in the building. But this was different.
Campbell: “He tried to get into this door, it appears that he tried to get propane out, took a cover off a motorcycle, he was sleeping and has a bunch of stuff inside this building. You can see the front lock to the front door was pulled up, and a whole bunch of stuff was stacked against that.”
The fire extinguishers had been moved, and their pins were pulled out. Some lumber, and various objects, were placed precariously above the stairs, ready to fall, as if to defend from intruders.
Campbell: “And then as we get up here, you’ll notice a bunch of stuff up above, that was set up to be like booby traps. And the police said that he had a bunch of spikes, and spears to throw down at people.”
Large bags of fertilizer were laid on the stairs. A large safe had been dragged to block the way.
Campbell:”Don’t put your hand down there, you can see there he’s got a rat trap set so if you put your hand down, it will snap you.
Most worrisome, some electrical wires were pulled out of their conduit, the wires denuded and wrapped around the boiler room door handle. Once the man was taken into custody, police officers called the Fire Department to thoroughly check the building. Firefighters positioned a large fan by the door to clear the smoke, and went through the building with heat cameras to ensure that no fire risk remained.
Officer Fullerton says the suspect was taken to the local jail.
Fullerton: “:He is in our custody for the time being, and we’ll proceed in accordance with the law, and also checking with the local district attorney, making sure that we are acting according to the law.”
Campbell says assessing the extent of the damage will likely take him a couple days.
