An hours-long standoff Saturday, March 7, led to criminal citations against a man who climbed a 100-foot spruce tree in Eugene’s Friendly neighborhood and threatened to pull a handgun, the Eugene Police Department said in a statement.

The incident began at about 2:15 p.m., when Eugene police officers responded to reports of an “armed” and “suicidal” man in a tree along the 2400 block of Jackson Street. He was bleeding from a “non-life-threatening, self-inflicted knife wound,” police said. Officers saw the knife and attempted to calm the man.

After the man, 36, said he had a handgun on him and threatened to pull it, police sent an emergency message to nearby residents asking them to shelter in place, and the department’s SWAT and Crisis Negotiation Team were activated. Team members tried negotiating with the suspect to come down, but after six hours, including with the help of the suspect’s family members, those attempts were unsuccessful. 

Police and firefighters used drones to get a closer view of the suspect and confirmed he was not armed with a handgun. He eventually dropped the knife, which officers recovered. By 8 p.m., the man was still in the tree and refused to come down.

Police, SWAT, fire and negotiation team personnel left the scene after determining the man wasn’t a threat to the community, per the statement.

Just before 9:40 p.m., residents notified police that the suspect had climbed down from the tree. A Eugene police officer located the suspect, who was transported to a hospital for treatment. 

The man was cited in lieu of custody for second-degree criminal trespass and criminal mischief, police said.

Taylor Goebel covers Lane County's food and drink scene. She has nearly a decade of experience in multimedia journalism, having reported across the Mid-Atlantic on dining, food systems, education, healthcare, local elections, labor and business. She was most recently a food reporter in Washington state, where she documented a fourth-generation fishing family, covered a David vs. Goliath conflict between a national coffee chain and a small Turkish cafe, and had many culinary firsts, from ensaymadas and gilgeori (Korean street) toast to morels and black cod.