Youths at juvenile detention facility threaten staff with shanks, fire while demanding McDonald’s order

Youths reportedly armed with shanks at a juvenile detention facility in Washington state locked themselves in a room and demanded food from McDonald’s, law enforcement dispatch audio shows. 

“Be advised that they threatened they have shanks on them,” a dispatcher in King County said over the radio, according to dispatch audio published by KTTH radio host Jason Rantz. 

Just after midnight on Sunday, the King County Sheriff’s Office received a call that six youths locked themselves in Cottage 9 at the Echo Glen Children’s Center and lit a fire. The facility is located in Snoqualmie, which is about 30 miles east of Seattle. 

“The only thing they can burn is possibly mattresses. They’re just demanding McDonald’s and other kinds of ridiculous stuff,” a deputy said over the radio after speaking with staff at the facility. 

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“They do have shanks, [staff saw] that they held them up. We’re just going to stay here and come up with a game plan. They’re locked in there and can’t get out,” the deputy added, Rantz reported. 

One of the juveniles involved was being held at the facility for second-degree murder, according to the dispatch audio. 

The King County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Fox News Digital that deputies responded to the facility just after midnight on Sunday “in regards to some residents who have locked themselves in a room and somehow started a fire.” The sheriff spokesperson added that some of the youths claimed they had weapons. 

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“Deputies arrived on scene and determined that nothing was on fire. The residents were just demanding McDonald’s,” the sheriff’s office told Fox News Digital. 

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At about 1:26 a.m. the Crisis Negotiation Team from the sheriff’s office began speaking with the kids, and by 1:54 a.m. the children were in law enforcement custody, according to Rantz. 

The sheriff’s office confirmed that there were no reported injuries and that the six kids were taken into custody. 

The incident comes on the heels of a riot last year at the facility, when at least five youths revolted against losing free time and threatened police with shanks and machetes, Rantz reported last year. 

The Washington State Department of Children, Youth and Families – the agency that oversees Echol Glen — did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.