Suspect In 6-Hour Standoff In Oklahoma City Had Outstanding Warrant

Oklahoma City Police said a man who prompted a six-hour standoff at an apartment complex Friday morning was already wanted for assaulting an officer.

Investigators said they got a call about 28-year-old Ryan Lee Malachi refusing to let a woman leave an apartment unit on the 5500 block of South Sunnylane Road. The woman eventually escaped. But police said Malachi refused to come out and may have had a weapon, prompting a standoff that began just after 5 a.m. 

"It was hectic! I got up (Friday) morning at 6 o'clock and I heard them over the intercom saying things, like, you know, 'Come out. You're under arrest,'" said apartment resident Jazzmine Davis. "Our kids could not go to school because the buses could not pick them up because they were blocked. We could not get our mail. We couldn't get anything."

Police said their tactical unit tried for several hours to convince Malachi to come out of the apartment, but he still would not budge.

"That is when the tactical unit introduced what we refer to as OC gas inside the apartment," said Sgt. Dillon Quirk, assistant public information officer at the Oklahoma City Police Department. "This is the type of gas, the same gas that officers carry on their person when they're responding to calls."

Police said Malachi then left the apartment and was arrested. The standoff ended at around 11 a.m.

"I'm glad that he was arrested because, at the end of the day, we're trying to make this a safe place to live," said Davis.

Malachi faced complaints of domestic assault with a deadly weapon, threatening acts of violence, possession of a firearm after a former conviction of a felony, and interfering with a 911 call. He already had an outstanding warrant for assault and battery on a police officer, investigators said.

The apartment complex manager said she worked with police to evacuate the residents of the affected building. Most of the tenants have since returned to their homes.

The manager said there was evidence that the suspect, while barricaded inside the unit, was trying to break through the wall to get to another unit. She said crews would repair the damage.

No injuries were reported. "To God be all the glory," Davis said.

Related Article: Standoff Ends After Police Deploy Gas In South Oklahoma City Apartment