Tag: intruder

By Caleb Hutton

An alleged intruder was held at gunpoint early Thursday, Jan. 10, after the tenants of a Carolina Street duplex heard footsteps in a supposedly vacant unit upstairs.

At 1:50 a.m., a boyfriend and girlfriend heard footsteps coming from the upstairs unit in the 700 block of Carolina, said Bellingham police spokesman Mark Young.

The 24-year-old boyfriend grabbed a shotgun and shouted a warning to the man upstairs. The squatter — who had been “casually cooking food on the stove” — opened the door and cooperated, at gunpoint, until the cops showed up, Young said.

The suspect was identified as Jacob Dean Ringenbach, 26. He told officers he didn’t have anywhere else to stay. Police booked him into jail on suspicion of residential burglary. It didn’t appear any property was actually stolen, according to police. Young wasn’t sure how long Ringenbach had lived in the home.

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