Fred Fellows, 57, of 99 Seaverns Bridge Road, Merrimack

MERRIMACK ñ When a Seaverns Bridge Road resident was able to break up a fight by pulling one combatant off the other, the alleged aggressor picked himself up, allegedly told the other man he was going to murder him, and headed for the stairs to the second floor ñ where, the other men told police, he keeps his firearms.

Not wanting to wait around to see if the man, identified by police as Fred Fellows, 57, of 99 Seaverns Bridge Road, was going to follow through on the alleged threats, the two men promptly vacated the residence to await the arrival of police.

Officers were called to the residence, which is just south of the intersection of Seaverns Bridge, Amherst and County roads, just before 4 p.m. Saturday, for a report of an assault in progress.

The men told arriving officers that the fight began over “a stupid argument” between Fellows and one of the men.

But when officers learned from them that Fellows allegedly threatened to kill them, and that they knew he owned firearms, including several “long guns,” meaning rifles or shotguns, the supervising officers advised the others to pull back “to a safe location … and set up a perimeter,” police said.

They brought in the department’s Special Reaction Team, and as a precaution evacuated nearby houses, police said.

A command post was set up, and a negotiator was called in from Nashua, police said, adding that the negotiator was able to speak with Fellows by phone.

Fellows eventually “surrendered himself peacefully,” police said, and was taken into custody.

He is charged with one count of second-degree assault, a Class B felony; and two counts of criminal threatening and one count of criminal mischief, all Class A misdemeanors.

Fellows was booked on the charges and held over the weekend in jail pending Monday’s arraignment and bail hearing.

A Superior Court judge continued the preventive detention order following the hearing.

Police said that once Fellows was in custody Saturday evening, they applied for, and received, a search warrant for the residence. They said they discovered property damage, in the form of a countertop being forcefully removed from a kitchen island.

They also located, and seized, a “large quantity of firearms, ammunition and archery supplies” in the residence.

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