Pasco man arrested after SWAT standoff. He did $30,000 damage to homeless housing complex

A Tri-Cities man allegedly did $30,000 in damage to the Pasco Catholic Charities housing and threatened to kill police in an hours long standoff.

Alexander Vahdati Bana, 38, of Pasco, allegedly used a barbell to break windows and punch holes in the floor and walls of his apartment in the Bishop Skylstad Commons, court documents said.

The 60-unit supportive housing complex at the corner of 20th Avenue and Lewis Street is aimed at helping chronically homeless people by providing them housing, opportunities and services.

The complex’s manager called Pasco police about noon on Monday to report the damage and that Vahdati Bana had busted through the wall into a neighboring vacant apartment.

The manager was going to do work to the vacant apartment and reported discovering that Vahdati Bana had barricaded the door with a refrigerator.

When police knocked on the door, he told officers he wasn’t going to leave.

A Pasco police officer talked to Vahdati Bana through a window and he allegedly repeated that he wasn’t leaving and that he had “a lot of knives, propane tanks ready to blow up, boiling water and said he was waiting for us to get in there,” court documents said.

Pasco police asked for the Tri-City Regional SWAT team to help get Vahdati Bana out of the apartment. After trying to negotiate with him, Pasco Lt. Tom Groom said the team used less than lethal force to subdue him.

When he was arrested, officers found Vahdati Bana had stabbed himself in the legs. They used tourniquets and with help from the Pasco Fire Department, he was taken to a local hospital.

After getting treated he was taken to the Franklin County jail. He is currently being held on $500 bail on suspicion of first-degree malicious mischief, second-degree burglary and felony harassment.