Woman in crisis taken into custody after standoff at Central Washington University

ELLENSBURG, Wash. — A woman in crisis and wielding a knife was taken into custody after a standoff with police at Central Washington University’s student union and recreation center on Saturday.

According to the university’s vice president of public affairs, the woman chased a student on Walnut Mall.

The student ran from the woman into the student center and barricaded the doors.

Officers who arrived on scene then evacuated a couple of hundred people from the center to a safe location, the school official said.

Police then surrounded the woman, isolating her to an area outside.

After negotiating with the woman for some time, law enforcement was able to take her into custody safely.

School officials closed the student union for the rest of the night and said it would reopen on Sunday.

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