Man Surrenders After Long Standoff Suspect Holds 16-Year-Old Girl Hostage, Also Wanted In Two Other Felonies

A Spokane man held a teenage girl captive at gunpoint in her North Altamont home for at least six hours Sunday before surrendering to police.

Mark N. Kelley, wanted by police on two felony warrants, ended the standoff at 3:20 p.m. when he walked out the front door.

Kelley, 31, raised his left arm above his head and clasped his right hand around the 16-year-old girl’s hand.

He squeezed the girl’s shoulders before letting her walk away, cradling her dog Bacardi in her arms. Kelley then lay face-down in the middle of the street, as police swarmed over him.

“Well, buddy, guess where you’re going? Back to prison,” police spokesman Dick Cottam said. “And that’s the last we see of him.”

Police are investigating Kelley for rape and multiple kidnapping. The girl was taken by ambulance to a Spokane hospital.

Kelley is being held in the Spokane County Jail on warrants accusing him of a Jan. 31 child rape and the Dec. 4, 1994, armed robbery of an elderly woman, police said.

Sporting a black turtleneck and jeans, Kelley forced his way into the home, 2929 N. Altamont, about 3 a.m. Sunday, police said.

“He wanted to party,” Police Chief Terry Mangan said.

Kelley acted strangely, threatening several people inside with a handgun and firing two rounds. One by one, the people left.

Nobody called police until 9:30 a.m. Sunday. By then, Kelley was alone with the 16-year-old girl, three dogs and a cat.

Police called the home, and Kelley threatened to kill the girl, police said.

Hostage negotiators talked to Kelley on the telephone for more than five hours. Police blocked off the street and evacuated neighboring homes.

Some people chose to stay inside. Nathan and Christina Kujawa and their mother holed up inside their home, two doors down from Kelley. They watched SWAT team members crawl over their front porch.

Nathan, 14, and Christina, 12, walked outside about five hours later to wait for their father.

“I called (the 16-year-old girl) early this morning,” Christina said. “I didn’t know she was being held hostage. I said, ‘Do you know the police are around the house?’ She said, ‘I gotta go. Bye.”’

Police heard the victim sobbing during the standoff.

Her mother showed up in the afternoon, after getting a call at work. She waited outside in the cold with a tear-stained face and a thin flannel shirt.

Kelley told police different stories. He said everyone would be dead in 24 hours. He vowed not to be taken back to prison. He said he’d be in jail by 6 p.m. Sunday. And he threatened to kill a pet or the girl if he didn’t get cigarettes.

Police scrambled for cigarettes, having a difficult time because few officers smoke, Cottam said. Finally, three filtered cigarettes were put in a plastic bag on the end of a pole. SWAT team members carefully put the bag on the cluttered front porch.

Kelley grabbed the bag. He surrendered about 80 minutes later.

Police had not determined Sunday night whether Kelley served time in prison.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Color Photos