Felony fugitive arrested after SWAT standoff
<p>Members of the Kootenai County Sheriff and Coeur d'Alene Police SWAT teams closely watch a residence on Best Avenue occupied by 22-year-old Brandon Kremer of Post Falls on Thursday in Coeur d'Alene. Kremer, who has multiple felony warrants, was arrested after a standoff with law enforcement.</p>
<p>Members of the Kootenai County Sheriff and Coeur d'Alene Police SWAT teams closely watch a residence on Best Avenue occupied by 22-year-old Brandon Kremer of Post Falls on Thursday in Coeur d'Alene. Kremer, who has multiple felony warrants, was arrested after a standoff with law enforcement.</p>
<p>Members of the Kootenai County Sheriff and Coeur d'Alene Police SWAT teams closely watch a residence on Best Avenue occupied by 22-year-old Brandon Kremer of Post Falls on Thursday in Coeur d'Alene. Kremer, who has multiple felony warrants, was arrested after a standoff with law enforcement.</p>
<p>Kootenai County Sheriff and Coeur d'Alene Police SWAT team members jump out of a van during a standoff between law enforcement and 22-year-old Brandon Kremer on Thursday on Best Avenue in Coeur d'Alene. Kremer, of Post Falls, had multiple felony warrants prior to the hour-long standoff, which ended with Kremer's arrest.</p>
<p>Brandon Kremer, 22, of Post Falls, was arrested Thursday following an hour-long standoff with law enforcement in Coeur d'Alene.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE — A multi-agency SWAT team arrested Brandon Kremer, 22, Post Falls, at a home in Coeur d'Alene following a standoff Thursday afternoon.
Kremer was barricaded inside a home on Best Avenue and Fifth Street for more than an hour Thursday. The suspect, who had a felony fugitive warrant, was arrested without incident, according to Coeur d'Alene Police.
During the incident, Police blocked off neighboring streets and cleared homes and businesses, which have since returned to normal.
The dozens of witnesses who lined driveways, sidewalks and parking lots to see the event unfold were told by officers to keep a large distance between themselves and the area where the SWAT operation was taking place. SWAT members surrounded the house while officers tried to communicate with the suspect. Several flashbangs were set off in efforts to remove the suspect from the home.
Longtime Coeur d'Alene resident Elane Prescott watched from the Napa Auto Parts parking lot.
"Anybody could get hurt in this situation," she said. "Thank God there was no shooting."
Borah Elementary was temporarily locked down as a precaution.
Parents Emily and Jesse Leingang of Coeur d'Alene momentarily
parked in the Alpine Animal Hospital parking lot at Seventh Street and Best Avenue after receiving an email from the school. Their children, who attend Borah, were in the school during the incident.
"It said the school’s on lockdown, the kids are safe, nobody in and out and law enforcement’s taking care of something the next block over," Emily said, anxiously peering out her windshield. "I was worried, but they're going to be fine; we're just peeking to see what's going on."
"Something on Facebook said there’s a standoff and there was a shot fired," Jesse said from the passenger seat.
Kremer was wanted on multiple Kootenai County felony warrants, including probation violations, burglary and grand theft.
According to court records, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison, with five years supervised probation on June 30 in 2015.
He allegedly violated his probation on Nov. 16 last year, and failed to appear for a hearing scheduled for Jan. 6 of this year.
Cole Wyant, who police believe committed crimes with Kremer, is still wanted on a $25,000 warrant for burglary and grand theft.
On Wednesday the North Idaho Violent Crimes Task Force posted pictures of Kremer and Wyant on the Coeur d’Alene Police Facebook page, seeking information on their whereabouts.
Police said Kremer was on probation for two counts of burglary, grand theft, and criminal possession of an FTC. He had a no-bond warrant for his arrest that was extraditable.
Wyant is a white male, 23 years old, 6-foot-2, 160 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair. Wyant was last known to be living in Coeur d’Alene.
Staff writers Jeff Selle and Brian Walker contributed to this article.