Police managed to apprehend a growling, shirtless intruder crawling above the ceiling in a Macy's... with a little help from a mattress provided by the retailer.
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Macy's staff at the Vancouver Mall called the police on Sept. 20, claiming that someone could be heard moving around inside the ceiling of the store, according to The Oregonian. Court documents obtained by the newspaper claim that when officers arrived around 4 pm, it was clear the ceiling had been damaged. Ceiling tiles were reportedly ajar, with some apparently pushed out completely.
In an attempt to get the person to come down from out of the ceiling, Macy's staff placed a ladder close to where they thought the individual was crawling around. According to the court documents, an officer climbed the ladder and heard the man moving around.
The drama continued to unfold, with more ceiling tiles dropping out of place. Eventually, officers spotted the shirtless intruder, later identified as 21-year-old Gabriel Hideo, who was reportedly snarling and letting out "incoherent noises as if he were speaking in tongues," a responding officer claimed, per the court docs.
From there, police did their best to plead with the man to come down the ladder. However, it became clear he had no intention of doing so. He reportedly eventually perched on a vent pipe, according to court records.
Macy's staff provided police with a handy mattress to place under the ladder, with officers continuing to try to talk the intruder down from the ceiling. The man allegedly flirted with going down the ladder a few times before scaling back up into the ceiling.
Police Forced to Take Action as Shirtless Man Crawls Through Macy's Ceiling
Eventually, the responding officers decided to take a harder approach.
Footage shared by KIRO's Jake & Spike program shows the moment when Hideo seems to take a couple of tentative steps down the ladder. Suddenly, police snatch the ladder out from under him, sending the shirtless man crashing to the mattress below.
Officers detained the man, who appeared to be growling during the struggle. Meanwhile, court documents allege that police found a fixed-blade knife on his person. The knife was taken by officers before Hideo was transported to a nearby hospital.
Vancouver Police Department spokesperson Kim Kapp said on the Jake & Spike show that the incident lasted for nearly two hours. When the hosts pressed for the brand of mattress used to break the intruder's fall, Kapp demurred.
After the bizarre ceiling-crawling episode, Hideo was reportedly charged with first-degree burglary and first-degree mischief.
