Video: Armored Vehicles, SWAT Team Converge To Apprehend Murder Suspect

A multi-agency tactical operation in Wenatchee led to the arrest of Erik Farias-Reyes, the suspect in the East Wenatchee murder of Elias A. Mora-Ontiveros

Three armored personnel carriers and about 30 law enforcement officers in tactical gear converged on the Lyles Motel in Wenatchee on the afternoon of April 19 to apprehend 31-year-old Erik Farias-Reyes, the suspect in the murder of Elias A. Mora-Ontiveros, 23, of Rock Island.

The multi-agency SWAT operation lasted about two hours. Authorities shut down Wenatchee Avenue and Mission Street near the motel around 4 pm. I was on my home from the office before they shut down the street. So I stopped, parked, and stood on the sidewalk outside the Jiffy Lube as a small crowd gathered. We watched as officers in body armor with various lethal and non-lethal weapons mustered along with some large and impressive decommissioned military vehicles.

Eventually the officers approached one of the rooms of the motel and a female, Sabrina McCubbin, 24, of East Wenatchee, came out. After some encouragement from officers with guns drawn, Farias-Reyes then came out. Both were taken aside, handcuffed, and led away. After that, a team stacked up at the door of the motel room and moved in to sweep it.

Here’s a video of the operation I shot and edited. It’s only about 4 minutes long, but I only cut out the long periods where everyone stood around waiting for the next thing to happen.

I believe one of the officers, who I pan to at one point in the video, was on the phone with Farias-Reyes. I heard him asking whoever he was on the phone with to “let the woman come out first.”

According to NCWlife, Farias-Reyes could appear in Douglas County Superior Court as early April 20.