Update: Suspect in Kennewick SWAT standoff taken into custody

A man wanted on drug charges in Nevada who was believed to be hiding Friday evening in the attic of a Kennewick home was taken into custody after a four-hour standoff.

Kennewick police and the Benton Franklin Regional SWAT team surrounded the house on the 6400 block of First Avenue looking for Rickie Melendez, said Sgt. Aaron Clem. He was wanted for conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance in Nevada. Investigators learned he was in Kennewick, prompting a search for him.

Officers tracked him to the house and he resisted arrest and escaped, police said.

He hid inside the home’s attic, and police used a chemical agent to capture Melendez.

He was taken to jail on the warrant and a charge of resisting arrest.

This story was originally published April 26, 2019 at 5:35 PM.