Concrete Man Tries to Get Deputies To Shoot Him

Skagit County, Washington- On the afternoon of July 13th, 2016, Skagit County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a domestic dispute in Concrete. The reporting party said a male in the residence had threatened everyone in the house and assaulted a female.

According to a probable cause affidavit of arrest obtained by SkagitBreaking.com through a public disclosure request, three women in the residence said that 53-year old Thomas Willner had verbally threatened them,  physically assaulted one of them and as deputies arrived he had thrown a laptop belonging to one of the women into the kitchen sink.

Mr. Willner was asked to step outside by the arriving Deputy and instead became angry and stated he wasn’t going anywhere. He then told the Deputy he was “armed and wouldn’t be afraid to us it” and closed and locked the door on the Deputy.

The Deputy went to a window and yelled for the victims. He was able to escort the victims out of the house and as he was doing this, the front door of the residence was opened again and Mr. Willner yelled that “he had a gun and was going to fu***** shoot.” Once again the door shut and the Deputy escorted the Women to a nearby residence so they were out of the area.

The Deputy went to his patrol car to wait for backup. After back up arrived, the Deputies approached the residence again, Mr. Willner opened the front door again and yelled that “Deputies were going to have to shoot him.”

Mr. Willner looked directly at the first arriving Deputy and began to approach him with clenched fists and stated “he would be the first one he was going to kill.”  The Deputy returned to his patrol car for cover when Mr. Willner began to reach behind his back at belt height as if he was going to grab a firearm.  He then placed his other hand behind his back in the same manner.  The Deputy drew his firearm and repeatedly told Mr. Willner  “not do it and to put his hands up.”  Mr. Willner was yelling at the Deputy saying, “shoot me f*****, shoot me, you’re going to have to shoot me.”  The second Deputy on scene had a view of Mr. Willner’s back and advised the first Deputy that Mr. Willner did not have a firearm.

Mr. Willner eventually put his hands up and dropped a lighter to the ground and tried to walk back inside the residence as Deputies shouted for him to stop.  Mr. Willner ignored the Deputies commands and was ultimately tackled  by two Skagit County Sheriff’s Deputies and a Tribal Officer who had arrived on scene for assistance. Mr. Willner continued to fight with the Deputies and would not cooperate while he was placed into handcuffs or placed in the back of a patrol vehicle.

Mr. Willner told Deputies he was “going to escape and run from them.”   Mr. Willner then proceeded to kick the back window of the patrol car resulting in the window shattering.  Mr. Willner was removed from the Patrol vehicle and placed into another patrol vehicle where he attempted to once again kick out the back window.

Further investigation determined that Mr. Willner had became angry with one of the women and grabbed her by her hair and threw her to the ground.  The woman had yelled for others in the house to call 9-1-1 and Mr. Willner told them “if they called 9-1-1 it would be the last thing they did.”  He had previously assaulted one of the women a week prior to this incident as well where she had injuries to her arm and knees.

Mr. Willner was booked into the Skagit County Jail on Suspicion of Domestic Violence 4th degree assault, 1st degree malicious mischief, Harassment, Malicious Mischief 2nd degree and intimidating a public servant.   He is currently being held in lieu of  $150,000 bail.