Police report: SC man smoking meth, wielding machete arrested in SWAT standoff
When Charleston deputies showed up to home in response to a reported domestic violence situation and knocked on the door, a man in a mask with a machete in his hand came to the door, according to a police report.
That man, identified by police as 32-year-old Jake Willis Walker, is charged with domestic violence and kidnapping after the SWAT team was called.
Thanksgiving night, Walker attacked his girlfriend in the bedroom of his home on the 7600 block of Lady Street in northern Charleston County, a Charleston County Sheriff’s Office report states.
Walker pinned the victim on the bed, pulled her hair and covered her mouth, according to the report. She couldn’t breathe. Walker said he was going to kill her, police said. She got free but Walker confined her inside the home.
The victim was able to get out and went to a neighbor’s house where she called police. When deputies arrived she told them Walker was smoking methamphetamine and had machetes, the report states.
When two deputies walked up to the home where Walker was, all the lights inside went off. A deputy knocked on the door and Walker appeared in the glass above the entrance wearing a masking and wielding a machete, according to the report.
Walker swung the blade around and struck the door with the weapon, a deputy said.
Deputies backed off, guarded the house entrances and called for backup. When backup arrived, the deputies called for Walker to disarm himself and come out of the house. Walker refused, the report states. The deputies called out the Charleston County SWAT team and crisis negotiators.
SWAT and crisis team members arrived and took over trying to get Walker out of the house as the deputies created a perimeter.
After a standoff, SWAT got Walker out and took him into custody in the driveway of the home, according to the report. Walker was taken to the hospital and arrested when released.
From the victim’s call for police to Walker’s arrest, the situation unfolded over six hours.
The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office charged Walker with second degree domestic violence and kidnapping.
Deputies booked Walker at the Charleston County Detention Center where a judge released him on $40,000 bond and an order to not contact the victim, court records show.
Walker has a prior criminal record in Charleston County, according to the courts.
In 2009, a judge found him guilty of petit larceny, records say. About seven years later, Walker pleaded guilty to forgery, and a judge sentenced him to five years probation. In 2018, he offended again and his probation was revoked, forcing Walker to serve 60 days imprisonment, court records show. In February this year, he pleaded guilty to meth possession and was sentenced to 90 days in jail.
If found guilty of the domestic violence and kidnapping charges, Walker could go to prison for 33 years.
This story was originally published November 30, 2019 at 2:16 PM.