PORT TOWNSEND — A knife-wielding man who reportedly handed a suicide note to his fiancee in a hospital emergency room and then fled was found asleep on hospital grounds about three hours later.
The 56-year-old man was not identified by Port Townsend police, but a police spokesman said he has a Port Angeles residence.
He was readmitted to Jefferson Healthcare hospital for a mental-health evaluation after apparently not acting further on the suicide threat, a police spokesman said.
City police and Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies responded to Jefferson Healthcare about 11:30 p.m. Sunday following a report of a suicidal man armed with a knife.
Hospital workers told officers that he had entered the emergency room brandishing the 8-inch kitchen knife, handed his fiancee — a patient — the note threatening suicide, then walked away from the ER and hospital.
No threats were made to any hospital staff or the woman, police said Monday.
Several residents and businesses in the hospital’s vicinity around Sheridan Street were alerted by police to the armed man and were warned to stay inside and keep their doors locked.
The man was located asleep on hospital grounds about three hours later by officers and taken into protective custody, cooperating with the authorities, police said.
The knife was found later stashed outside a house about four blocks away on 10th Street.
In addition to the Port Townsend Police Department and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Port of Port Townsend security and S&S Security of Harrison Medical Center, Bremerton, participated in the search.
