The arrest of a Bainbridge High School student following the killing of a 71-year-old Sequim woman Thursday was done in “textbook fashion” after a very brief stakeout, according to Bainbridge Island Police Department Chief Matthew Hamner.

Benjamin Bonner, 18, was taken into custody without incident at his home Thursday by three officials from the Bainbridge Police Department.

Bonner’s name, as well as a description of a missing 2004 Honda CRV taken from the home of the victim was relayed to the BIPD by the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, Hamner said.

Officers then drove past Bonner’s home in an unmarked detective car, saw the allegedly stolen car and noted the door to the house was open. They positioned themselves out of sight and apprehended Bonner when he stepped outside.

“They didn’t rush in and create a big scene inside the house,” Hamner said.

Bainbridge police were careful not to alert Bonner to their presence and waited for him to come outside, he said, and thus “avoided the possibility of a very violent arrest.”

“As soon as he came out of the house, they got him,” Hamner said.

Bonner was apparently “shocked,” the island’s top cop said, and offered no resistance.

“He didn’t have time to think about running and fighting,” Hamner said.

Clallam County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched at 12:39 p.m. Thursday to the home of Cynthia Little in the 100 block of Hurricane Ridge Drive in Sequim after friends of Little found her dead.

According to a sheriff’s office press release, deputies quickly determined Little was murdered and that her 2004 Honda CRV was missing from her Sunland Golf & Country Club home.

Hamner declined to speak about the investigation, as it is being handled by off-island authorities.

“We just made the apprehension,” Hamner said.

Bonner was taken to the Winslow Way station and then turned over to Clallam County deputies.

Hamner praised the quick thinking and “flawless” conduct of the island cops involved in the arrest: Detective Sergeant Scott Weiss, Detective Erik Peffer and Officer Ben Sias, specifically.

“We don’t have a lot of experience arresting murder suspects,” Hamner said. “And it’s a tribute to these officers, thinking and doing things in a manner that is so professional.”

The arrest was absolutely flawless, the chief said, though it could easily have deteriorated if not properly conducted into a foot and vehicle chase or even a standoff.

This was, in fact, the first homicide suspect arrested on Bainbridge Island in at least four years, Hamner said, the first since he became chief of police.