Man with gun threatened shoppers and officer, Bellingham police say
Police arrested a man who was using a gun to threaten people in a busy Meridian Street parking lot north of Kellogg Road on Sunday, Feb. 19, at 2:30 p.m. Kelton T. Lane, 27, of Bellingham was using a weapon, later discovered to be an airsoft gun, according to a news release from the city of Bellingham.
Airsoft guns look like traditional firearms but shoot nonlethal, plastic pellets.
Lane was arrested on charges of first-degree robbery, two counts of second-degree assault and obstruction of law enforcement. He is being held without bail at Whatcom County Jail.
Police got a call earlier Sunday about a man walking around with a gun in his pocket and that he stole merchandise from TJ Maxx, but the man fled before officers could contact him.
At 2:30 p.m. police got more calls that the man was waving a handgun in the air and at passing cars.
When police contacted him in the parking lot, he fled between cars and reportedly aimed the weapon at police and an occupied truck.
“The driver, frightened for his life and believing he was about to be robbed of his truck, sped off to flag down police,” according to the release. “One of the first officers into the area turned a corner and Lane was facing the officer’s car with his arm locked out, aiming the firearm directly at the officer.”
Police eventually were able to subdue Lane with flexible batons, a less lethal ammunition.
Lane was taken into custody and treated at the hospital for re-injuries to a wound he incurred in an earlier incident with a different law enforcement agency, according to the release.
This story was originally published February 21, 2023 at 2:20 PM.
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