Gabriel Hideo has been booked into jail after a ceiling collapse ended his hour-long standoff with police inside a Vancouver, Washington Macy’s.
The 33-year-old suspect now faces first-degree malicious mischief and burglary charges, plus an outstanding felony warrant, following the Sept. 30 incident at the Vancouver Mall department store, according to the Vancouver Police Department.
Employees called police after spotting Hideo crawling shirtless through the overhead space, breaking ceiling tiles and damaging lights, wiring and other fixtures during his ducted pursuit, the department wrote on Facebook. The second floor was evacuated while officers worked to extract him.
Cops perched a ladder into the overhead space and placed a mattress beneath as a safety measure in case Hideo fell through, according to KATU. For more than an hour, officers tried talking him down, but the ceiling scuttler ignored repeated requests to come down and kept causing damage from above.
“He landed on the mattress, got up and tried to run. That didn’t work out so well,” the police department wrote on Facebook.
Hideo finally stepped onto the ladder but quickly changed his mind and tried to scurry back up, police said. Officers pulled on the ladder to stop his retreat, and he dramatically fell from the ceiling, appearing to hit the ladder before crash-landing onto the mattress below.
Video shows Hideo rolling on the ground parkour-style before trying to quickly scurry away from the group of cops. Police managed to apprehend the shirtless ceiling explorer, who was grunting loudly while being cuffed, according to the footage.
Hideo was booked into the Clark County Jail following his capture.
The incident drew widespread attention after police posted video of the bizarre burglary attempt on social media, showing the moment the suspect’s overhead escape attempt literally came crashing down.
