Man talked down from roof after 5-hour standoff ends peacefully

NASHUA – A Nashua police hostage negotiator successfully talked a city man off an apartment building roof Wednesday night after a five-hour standoff, avoiding any injuries to the man or police officers.

Around 11:30 p.m., officers peacefully led a man wearing a white shirt and handcuffs into a cruiser while a small crowd who had watched the drama slowly dispersed.

Officers arrived at 69 Kinsley St. a little before 7 p.m. after their intelligence determined that a man they were looking for on domestic violence charges was there.

Police also had information the man, whose name they did not immediately release, was suicidal, according to Nashua police Lt. Raymond McDannell, so police made contact with him using a bullhorn and the speakers on their cruisers.

Instead of coming out to face a misdemeanor assault charge, the man climbed onto the roof and refused to come down. For the next five hours, a hostage negotiator talked to the man while he made threats about taking out any officers who tried to arrest him, McDannell said.

The green apartment building, which has a for-rent sign in the front yard, is mostly vacant and no other people were in the building during the standoff, McDannell said. The building is almost exactly in the middle of the block between Main and Wilder streets.

The man had no weapon and never threatened to jump off the roof or hurt himself. The department’s Special Response Team was briefly mobilized, McDannell said, but left seconds before the man was led out of the house by officers.

Police were trying to arrest him under the state’s 12-hour rule that allows police to arrest domestic violence suspects without a warrant within 12 hours of their alleged assault, McDannell said.

The man will be charged with at least one count of domestic violence simple assault. More charges may follow following the standoff, McDannell said.

Police took the man to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center for a psychological examination, McDannell said. A number of people gathered at the intersection of Kinsley and Wilder streets where police blocked traffic with cruisers.

Ashley Labonville, 20, lives nearby and saw the man on the roof yelling at police. She said he was sitting near the building’s chimney near the middle of the roof and yelling something about wanting his things back. She said when police responded that they only had half his things, he said that wasn’t good enough and wasn’t coming down.

McDannell said the man was referring to evidence police seized in a separate case.

Labonville said there were also rumors the man had a gun and was holding his daughter hostage – rumors that McDannell said were inaccurate. “It’s insane,” Labonville said. “I don’t like it. I don’t like crazy people going around with guns.”

Labonville’s friend and neighbor, Tiffany Hall, also saw the man and heard him yelling about getting his things back.