The Alaska State Trooper Southcentral SWAT team had to be activated in the central peninsula on Thursday after a Kenai man barricaded himself in a Nikiski home and refused to leave.
AST A-Detachment Commander Mike Zweifel said that just before 8:00 a.m., 37-year-old Kristen Kenneth Requena of Kenai, who was experiencing a “mental health crisis,” had “committed a crime” and subsequently barricaded himself in a Nikiski home. Requena refused repeated requests from the homeowner to leave.
According to Zweifel, a newly formed special crisis unit was activated to negotiate with Requena “…the Alaska State Troopers, Alaska Wildlife Troopers, and the newly formed Kenai Peninsula Borough Mobile Crisis Team responded to a residence in Nikiski for the report of a disturbance. Our investigation revealed that a subject who [was] experiencing a crisis had committed crimes. Negotiations with the subject were unsuccessful and the subject ended up barricading inside a residence there in Nikiski.”
The AST dispatch says that the Nikiski Fire Department Mobile Crisis Team (MCT) negotiated with Requena, who was suffering from “drug-induced paranoia” for over 90 minutes, but that his “erratic and aggressive” behavior continued to escalate. According to the report, Requena was armed with a knife and “noncompliant.” Less lethal bean bag rounds were used in an attempt to gain compliance but were unsuccessful.
At this point, Zweifel says the decision was made to activate the SWAT team. “We activated our South Central SWAT team who responded to the residence where the subject was eventually taken into custody without incident and booked into Wildwood Pretrial,” said Zweifel.
Requena was remanded at Wildwood Pretrial Facility for Criminal Trespass in the first degree, Disorderly Conduct, and Misconduct Involving Controlled Substance in the fifth degree.