Longtime Oak Harbor Police Office Cedric Niiro is credited with taking down a suspected double murderer on Oct. 3.

Oak Harbor Police Chief Rick Wallace offered new details Tuesday about the events surrounding 30-year-old Joshua Lambert’s arrest.

Law enforcement were out in force on North Whidbey and Skagit County the afternoon of Oct. 3 after Lambert’s two grandfathers were found stabbed to death in their homes. A witness, who Lambert allegedly tied up, identified him as the killer, court documents indicate.

In the midst of the manhunt, Wallace said the police received a report of a suspicious man walking on Oak Harbor Road with a bow and arrow. The police quickly responded, but didn’t find anyone.

But at about 5 p.m., Office Niiro was in his police car at the intersection of Oak Harbor Street and Crosby Avenue when he saw Lambert walk out of a woods. Lambert looked both ways, but didn’t seem to see the officer, according to Wallace.

Niiro jumped out of his car and arrested Lambert at gunpoint.

It turned out, Wallace said, that Lambert had been at a woman’s apartment in the area and allegedly took her bow and arrow. He went outside and walked around with the weapon, but then returned and left it at the apartment before leaving again.

“What he was up to, we don’t know,” Wallace said.

Prosecutor Greg Banks said the motive for the murders appeared to be that Lambert wanted firearms. Detective Ed Wallace with the Island County Sheriff’s Office said there’s no evidence that Lambert ever obtained any guns.

Law enforcement searched the woods immediately after Lambert’s arrest. Detective Wallace said the sheriff’s office returned a couple of days later and recovered some evidence, but the details aren’t being released yet.