Ephrata man burns apartment, holes up in bathroom

EPHRATA — A man was arrested Sunday after setting an apartment on fire and then barricading himself in the bathroom, according to a statement from the Ephrata Police Department.

Officers responded just after 1 a.m. to an apartment complex in the 30 block of Basin Street Southwest where a subject, identified as Andrew Parent, 37, had reportedly set a fire in an apartment with a spray can and a lighter, according to the statement. He was reported to be attempting to set fire to a person who was trying to take the spray can away from him. Another resident of the complex saw the fire and used a garden hose to help douse the fire through an open window. 

When officers arrived they used extinguishers to put the fire out, whereupon Parent barricaded himself in the bathroom, where fire was seen once again. The door could not be breached to put out the fire, so officers knocked a hole in the wall and suppressed the fire through the hole. 

Neighboring apartments were evacuated while Parent, now seen to have a knife, refused to leave the bathroom. The fire was contained with the help of the Grant County Sheriff’s Office and the Soap Lake Police Department. The Ephrata Fire Department, Grant County Fire District 13, Lifeline Ambulance and the Moses Lake Regional Tactical Response Team were also on the scene, according to the EPD statement.

Further negotiations failed to draw Parent out of the bathroom, so officers deployed flash bangs and pepper spray, according to the EPD statement. At about 4:15 a.m., Parent was instructed to come out and CS gas was introduced into the bathroom. Parent then exited through the second-story window, and subsequently received medical attention on the scene. He was then transported to Columbia Basin Hospital and transferred to LifeFlight, according to the statement. No information on his condition or charges was available at press time Monday.

Parent was previously arrested in July 2022 for fourth-degree assault — domestic violence, according to county records.

Police Chief Erik Koch indicated that all EPD officers were safe after the incident and nobody besides Parent had experienced any injuries.