Alleged carjacker arrested in Oak Harbor

Whidbey Island’s version of a SWAT team arrested a carjacking suspect at an apartment building outside Oak Harbor Wednesday, according to the Island County Sheriff’s Office.

Whidbey Island’s version of a SWAT team arrested a carjacking suspect at an apartment building outside Oak Harbor Wednesday, according to the Island County Sheriff’s Office.

Detective Ed Wallace said the suspect, Irvin Torian, is wanted on a no-bail arrest warrant out of Florida for carjacking while armed with a deadly weapon and a local warrant for misdemeanor harassment.

An operation consisting of deputies from the Island County Sheriff’s Hard Entry Arrest Team, or HEAT, and officers from the Oak Harbor Police Department’s High Risk Entry Team, or HRET, served a search warrant on an apartment complex in the 2800 block of Oak Harbor Road.

Oak Harbor police drove the department’s new armored vehicle to the scene.

Torian refused to leave the apartment. He tried to jump from a second-story window at the rear of the building, but changed his mind after seeing police officers looking up at him, Wallace said.

The officers evacuated the occupants of the apartment complex after getting no response from Torian for about 15 minutes. A single chemical munition, or “gas round,” was shot into a bedroom window, Wallace said.

The gas round compelled Torian to immediately comply with law enforcement. He got out of the apartment and was arrested without incident; he didn’t need medical attention, according to the detective.

Wallace said local law enforcement has used tear gas or pepper rounds against barricaded suspects before, but that it’s relatively unusual.

Torian will likely be extradited to Florida, he said.