Standoff ends when police find dead body

Sexual predator apparently chooses suicide rather than more prison

By Jim Hart

The Sandy Post, Feb 24, 2010, Updated Feb 24, 2010 (21 Reader comments)

SERGIO OLMOS / Sandy Post

SWAT members take position atop the Les Schwab building in Sandy near the scene of a standoff with Steven Routley, a suspected armed felon.

A four-hour standoff in Sandy ended with police officers finding the body of a wanted felon, Steven A. Routley, 35, inside the home where he had taken refuge earlier Wednesday, Feb. 24.

By about 3:30 p.m., after pummeling the house with dozens of rounds of tear gas, the Clackamas County Interagency SWAT team entered the home to discover in an area of the attic a “deceased individual,” Sandy Police Officer Lew Sytsma said.

By 6 p.m. Wednesday, Systma had confirmed the identity of the body as Routley because the next of kin had been notified.

After a death investigation was conducted by Sandy Police Det. K.T.Taylor, Sytsma said the deceased died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

“We believe that he was the only person in the house,” Sytsma said.

Multiple rounds of tear gas were fired into the home starting about 2:30 p.m. -- nearly three hours after the standoff began before noon.

U.S. Marshals, the Clackamas County Interagency SWAT team and members of the Portland Police Bureau and the Sandy Police Department cordoned off the area and diverted east- and west-bound traffic from Highway 26. The highway was closed between University Avenue and Bluff Road.

The incident

Every available Sandy police officer was called to assist the U.S. Marshal’s Office at 11:45 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 24.

Wanted felon Steven A. Routley, 35, fled from officers at about noon and entered a home in the 37900 block of Highway 26 as authorities were preparing to make their arrest.

“When contacted, (Routely) ran into a residence,” Sytsma said, “and he is believed to be armed with a handgun.”

Neighboring residences and businesses were evacuated.

Authorities described Routley as a wanted felon sho had been released from prison only last spring. Due to prior contact, he was believed to be armed with a 9mm handgun.

He was wanted on second- and third-degree sex abuse charges as well as using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct, contributing to the sexual delinquency of a minor and felon in possession of a firearm, a U.S. Marshals Office spokesman said.

The scene was just west of the Tollgate Inn restaurant, 38100 Highway 26.

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