Police engaged in a nightlong standoff Friday in Cambridge after a man wielded a machete in Central Square and made it to his home in The Port neighborhood, according to police and police scanner reports.
In an effort to get the barricaded man out of his home, police used gas that sent several sickened residents fleeing instead.
The first reports of a man with weaponry in Central Square came before 6:45 p.m.; the standoff at 243 Broadway, a building run by the affordable-housing developer Just A Start, lasted several hours, going well past 2:30 a.m. with the man still in his home.
Police cleared the first floor, where the man lived, as a first step in resolving the incident. Officials first offered those evacuated people shelter at the Pisani neighborhood center, but only one couple took the offer; at around 11 p.m. came the suggestion that the residents find another place to spend the night – again with no movement. Finally, managers for the nonprofit came out at 12:30 a.m. to offer residents transportation to nearby hotel rooms, warning that the wait could go on another couple of hours. Only one hand went up.
Most residents of the building who’d been told to leave by police at 8:15 p.m. insisted on staying to get back into their homes – but the situation didn’t resolve for several more hours.
“She has no diapers, no wipes, no nothing,” one family said of their baby, who was soon crying during the impromptu vigil of a couple of dozen people, some wrapped in blankets.
“People have medicine to take, there are animals up there,” residents said. By 1:15 p.m., tempers were boiling over and residents were demanding access or at least information. Some were angry that police couldn’t clear the building faster of one barricaded man.
“He better have a hostage in there,” one resident quipped.
The man identified as carrying the machete had no record of crimes in Cambridge but was known to Boston police for a restraining order, charge of resisting arrest and assault and battery on a police officer, according to scanner reports.
In an incident that may be connected to the standoff, one man in Central Square was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital shortly before 8 p.m. Friday with cuts to the head or face, according to scanner reports.
Though at first the man could be seen pacing through the window at 243 Broadway, after a while he pulled the shades and police lost their view,
Gas was shot into the building shortly after midnight and rose through the building – which had not been fully evacuated. The 1879 five-story brick building, known as the George Close, was once a warehouse. Its 53,724 square feet holds 61 apartments.
One man came out livid from being affected by the gas – a mix of pepper spray and tear gas, according to a Pro EMS responder. One of the people watching over the hours took video of a woman on the fourth floor coughing and calling for help. Elderly residents in medical masks were assisted out of the building at 1:25 am., followed by a man in a wheelchair and others.
One family on the third floor was exposed to the gas for five to 10 minutes, said a man who described trying to escape. “I vomited so many times,” he said, sitting on the sidewalk with his back on the brick building. “I was trying to push my father’s wheelchair. The police should have notified us.”
Firefighters were brought in to take care of residents affected by the gas.
While the additional crisis of sickened residents grew, some argued with police for the right to go in and retrieve pets or neighbors, Just A Start delivered food for the people waiting. At 1:40 a.m., police arranged for the doors to be opened at the Fletcher Maynard Academy across the street so residents could be nearby when they were allowed back in.
But, police told a Just A Start manager, the initial problem of the barricaded man was not yet resolved.
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Thank you for the detailed report, Mr. Levy. It was indeed a concerning situation. We appreciate your efforts and look forward to any further updates you can provide.
Cambridge police using excessive force and harming innocent bystanders? No way!