Man Falls From Macy's Ceiling After Standoff in Vancouver

A man who had been hiding above the ceiling tiles of a Macy's department store in Vancouver, Washington, fell to the floor on Sept. 30 after an hourlong standoff with officers, according to the Vancouver Police Department. The man, identified by police as Gabriel Hideo, landed on a mattress that officers had positioned beneath the overhead space and briefly tried to flee before being taken into custody.

What happened at the Macy's store in Vancouver, Washington?

Employees at the store, located inside a shopping mall in the city of roughly 190,000 people in southwest Washington state, called police after spotting a man crawling through the space above the ceiling tiles, the Vancouver Police Department said in a social media post cited by the New York Post. The man moved through the crawl space above the second floor, breaking tiles and damaging lights and wiring as he went, according to the department.

The second floor of the store was evacuated while officers worked to resolve the situation, the Post reported, citing police and an account from local broadcaster KATU.

How did police try to get the man down?

Officers set up a ladder leading into the ceiling space and placed a mattress on the floor below in case the man fell, the Vancouver Police Department said. Police said they spent more than an hour trying to talk the man into coming down voluntarily. He ignored the requests and continued moving through the ceiling, causing further damage to tiles, lighting fixtures and wiring, according to the department's account relayed by the Post.

What damage did the man cause inside the store?

The Vancouver Police Department said the man broke ceiling tiles and damaged light fixtures and wiring as he moved through the crawl space above the sales floor. No additional detail on the extent of the damage or any estimated repair cost was included in the department's public statement.

How did the standoff end after the fall?

After more than an hour, the man stepped onto the ladder that officers had placed in the ceiling opening but then tried to climb back up, according to the Vancouver Police Department. Officers pulled on the ladder to keep him from retreating further into the crawl space, and the man fell from the overhead area, landing on the mattress positioned below.

"He landed on the mattress, got up and tried to run. That didn't work out so well," the Vancouver Police Department said in its account of the arrest.

The department did not elaborate on how officers took the man into custody after the fall, and the Post's report of the department's statement was cut short in the material provided to this desk. No injuries to officers, store employees or the man were described in the available police account.

What is known about the suspect?

Police identified the man as Gabriel Hideo. The Vancouver Police Department's public statement, as relayed by the Post, did not include his age, hometown or any criminal charges filed as a result of the incident. The department also did not say how long the man had been inside the ceiling space before employees noticed him or how he gained access to the crawl space above the sales floor.

Timeline of the Sept. 30 incident

• Employees at the Vancouver Macy's spot a man crawling through the ceiling space above the second floor and call police, according to the Vancouver Police Department.
• Officers evacuate the second floor and set up a ladder and a mattress beneath the ceiling opening.
• The man ignores requests to come down for more than an hour, breaking tiles, lights and wiring as he moves through the crawl space.
• The man briefly steps onto the ladder, then tries to climb back into the ceiling.
• Officers pull the ladder, and the man falls, landing on the mattress below before he is taken into custody.

The Vancouver Police Department posted footage of the encounter on social media, which the Post described as showing the man's fall from the overhead space in front of officers who had gathered on the store's second floor.

No additional police report, booking record or court filing was included in the material reviewed by this desk, and the Vancouver Police Department's full statement on the incident, including any charges against Hideo, was not fully available at the time of this report.