Man arrested after late-night confrontation at apartment building in Southwest Portland

PORTLAND Pray. (KPTV) – A man was arrested Saturday after an overnight standoff with police at an apartment building in southwest Portland, according to the Portland Police Bureau.

On Friday at 11:30 p.m., officers responded to a report of banging outside a home in the 2400 block of Southwest Fifth Avenue. When police arrived, they saw that a man had broken into the basement of the home, which was divided into four apartment units, and was allegedly armed with a knife.

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Police said they told him to come out, but the man refused. Tactical units responded to the scene and the people living in the building were evacuated.

Officers spent the next few hours trying to negotiate with the man and at one point, they smelled smoke and thought they could see flames, so they called Portland Fire & Rescue to have water lines ready.

At approximately 6 a.m. Saturday, police used pepper spray to try to get the man to come out of the basement. He didn’t do it. Then they used “irritant gas” in the basement.

Finally, around 6:40 a.m., police said the man dropped the knife and surrendered to officers.

The man, identified as Aaron D. Onufrock, 55, received a medical evaluation and was then booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center. He is charged with first-degree burglary, first-degree arson, first-degree criminal mischief, first-degree burglary and third-degree robbery.

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