Cops Storm Oregon Motel to Grab Grandparents Murder Suspect
A motel desk clerk recognized Michael Boysen and tipped off police.
March 13, 2013— -- A man suspected of murdering his grandparents after they threw him a party for being released from prison was captured after an hours-long standoff with police at an Oregon motel.
Michael Boysen, 26, was arrested Tuesday in Lincoln City, Ore., after police breached the motel room door and captured him.
Boysen was found lying on the floor on his back with a self-inflicted cut, police said. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital. Lincoln City Police Chief Keith Kilian said Boysen was alive at the hospital, but wouldn't release any further information on the severity of the injury, according to The Associated Press.
Earlier in the day, police said in a news conference that officers tried using a water cannon to knock down the front door of the room where Boysen was holed up. Police also used a bullhorn to try and persuade Boysen to surrender, the AP reported.
When Boysen didn't come out on his own, police went in after him. No shots were fired during the standoff and no one was hurt, Kilian said.
Police were drawn to the motel after a desk clerk saw a television report about the manhunt and called police, Kilian said.
Before police captured Boysen, authorities feared he would try to obtain weapons to target family members and law enforcement officials.
Boysen was released from prison last Friday where he had been serving time since 2006 for three robbery convictions, according to ABC News' Seattle affiliate KOMO.
Family members have identified the slain couple, Boysen's grandparents, as Robert and Norma Taylor, according to KOMO. They were 82 and 80 years old, respectively.
"At the grandparents' house on Friday night, there was kind of a welcome home party with other family members," King County Sheriff John Urquhart said Monday. "Everybody left the party at about 9 o'clock at night."
Authorities believe that Boysen killed his grandparents at their home near Renton, Wash., shortly after that and then took off in their car.
"We are at a loss as to why he killed them," the sheriff said. "We don't know what the motive is."
Urquhart said the grandparents were not shot, but did not elaborate on how they were killed. Police do not think that Boysen had a gun when he left the house, but may have tried to obtain one since then.
On Saturday, the victims' daughter, Boysen's mother, discovered her parents' bodies after going to their house when she was unable to reach them, KOMO reported.
Detectives have been told that Boysen searched the Internet for information on gun shows across the Pacific Northwest and Nevada, Sgt. Cindi West told KOMO.
The sheriff said that Boysen made threats against family members and law enforcement.
"He intended to get a gun and kill citizens, kill people in positions of authority, which we take to mean police officers," Urquhart said.
"We don't want another Maurice Clemmons situation in Western Washington," Urquhart said. Clemmons was a felon who murdered four police officers in 2009 in Parkland, Wash., and then evaded capture for two days before being shot and killed by a police officer.
Boysen's family members were put in protective custody while police searched for him, according to KOMO.
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