On September 1st at 11 p.m., officers were dispatched to The Sleep Inn at 1820 W Crawford in Salina following reports of a man with a firearm and a possible fire in a hotel room. Upon arrival, officers located a 48-year-old male from Missouri who was armed but determined not to be an aggressor.
The man, who was staying at the hotel, reported being woken by a fire alarm on the second floor. After exiting his room and seeing smoke in the hallway, he contacted hotel staff, who identified the source of the smoke. They knocked on the door of the room in question, which was occupied by Cole Marlow, a 39-year-old male from Salina. When asked to leave the room, Marlow allegedly raised a metal pipe and refused to comply.
Concerned for safety, the Missouri man retrieved a rifle from his room and returned to Marlow's door, urging him to leave. Marlow eventually began to exit but reportedly continued to turn around and raise the pipe toward others. No shots were fired, and the firearm was not used beyond being displayed for self-defense.
Officers later located Cole Marlow near Crawford and Duvall and took him into custody without incident. It was determined that Marlow had caused the smoke by overcooking items in a microwave, triggering the fire alarm. Marlow was arrested on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a stimulant, and failure to have a drug tax stamp for marijuana or a controlled substance.