Armed man arrested after 4-hour standoff at Priest Rapids Dam
Priest Rapids Dam is located southwest of Moses Lake near Mattawa. The dam and a nearby village were the scene for a standoff after a man threatened utility district staff and began firing into the hills above the village.
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MATTAWA — A Mattawa man is in custody after a more-than-four-hour standoff with Grant County Sheriff's Office deputies at the Priest Rapids Dam on Saturday.
At around 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Bobby Tahmalwash, 33, of Mattawa, is alleged to have driven an older blue Ford Explorer SUV into a parking lot near the Priest Rapids Dam and threatened two contractors at a Grant County Public Utility District site with a 9 mm pistol. He then drove away across the dam into the Wanapum Indian Village, where he is alleged to have started shooting into the hills above the village, according to GCSO spokesperson Kyle Foreman.
Foreman said deputies on scene called for backup, then observed the man from a distance for more than an hour as they waited for members of the Regional Tactical Response Team composed of GCSO deputies, Washington State Patrol troopers and Mattawa and Royal City police officers, to arrive.
Team officers then approached Tahmalwash in a small armored vehicle, a Lenco BearCat, Foreman said, preventing him from leaving the Village — which is on the Yakima County side of the Columbia River but most easily accessible by Grant County — after the suspect crashed his SUV into the BearCat.
“Canine Chewbacca was released to stop him, which he did,” Foreman said. “He got his shoulder, and subdued him enough to be taken into custody.”
The stand-off ended at around 4 p.m., Foreman said.
Foreman said Tahamlwash was treated by EMTs at the scene and then taken to Columbia Basin Hospital in Ephrata where he received further treatment. He was then booked into the Grant County Jail on two counts of first-degree assault with a firearm.
Foreman said the pistol and a spare magazine were recovered at the scene, and the suspect gave no reason for his actions.
During the course of the encounter, both Wanapum Indian Village and Priest Rapids Dam were asked to shelter in place and lock down their facilities, according to GCSO announcements.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com