A 54-year-old Alki woman is due in court Thursday to answer a felony harassment charge after police say she brandished a large kitchen knife at a neighbor and threatened to kill her, capping an hours-long standoff at her apartment. Tina Marie Gregorius was taken into custody on October 13 after officers talked her out of the standoff and later found the knife inside her apartment under a search warrant. She has been jailed since then in lieu of $30,000 bail.
According to West Seattle Blog, investigators accuse Gregorius of brandishing the knife at the victim and threatening to kill her. The outlet reports that charging documents also accuse her of vandalizing the neighbor's car and of harassing other people who live nearby. Gregorius and the victim had reportedly been friends until two years before the incident, per the charging document, and security video is said to have captured the confrontation between the two women.
A Standoff That Had Neighbors On Edge
Police were called to Gregorius's Alki apartment on October 13, where the confrontation turned into an hours-long standoff before officers managed to talk her out and take her into custody, the same account notes. Only after obtaining a search warrant did investigators enter the apartment and recover the knife described in the charging documents.
The victim had reported Gregorius to police before, according to the charging document, and told investigators she feared that if officers left this time without making an arrest, Gregorius would follow through on her threats. During the standoff, other neighbors reportedly approached police and said they, too, had filed reports about Gregorius in the past.
No Prior Record, According to Charging Papers
Despite the string of allegations, the charging documents state that Gregorius has no criminal history. She is due in court Thursday morning to be arraigned on the felony harassment charge, the report notes, though the outcome of that court appearance has not yet been reported.
The Alki standoff followed a pattern seen in another Seattle felony-harassment investigation: In June 2023, police said a man accused of brandishing a gun at a neighbor remained inside his Beach Drive residence as officers sought to contact him. Seattle police brought in SWAT officers and the Hostage Negotiation Team, obtained a search warrant, and recovered a handgun after the man came out and was arrested. The episode also ended without officers entering the home before obtaining a warrant. Seattle police’s account of that case describes the response.
Washington law makes harassment a class C felony when the alleged threat is to kill someone; a prior harassment conviction is another basis for felony treatment, but it is not required under the death-threat provision. The statute also requires that the threatened person be placed in reasonable fear the threat will be carried out. The charge against Gregorius is an allegation, and prosecutors would have to prove the elements in court. Washington’s harassment statute sets out those requirements.
