Boston police saw a machete and knives outside a bedroom where Princiano Faustin was holed up before the 51-year-old man was arrested July 29 for allegedly assaulting a police officer – and then released without having to post bail. Three days later, Faustin allegedly went on a Central Square rampage with two machetes, injuring two people, before fleeing to his nearby apartment and barricading himself inside in an 18-hour standoff with Cambridge police.
Faustin is now at Bridgewater State Hospital for mental health treatment and an evaluation of his competency to stand trial. He faces nine charges, including armed assault to murder and mayhem. In the Boston case, Faustin was screened by a mental health clinician at the West Roxbury division of Boston Municipal Court and found competent to stand trial. He is charged in that incident with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest and threatening to commit a crime.
Police said he threw a suitcase at an officer outside the bedroom, injuring the officer. When deescalation efforts failed, officers kicked down the bedroom door and shot Faustin with a taser several times; he “advanced toward officers ripping the [taser] prongs from his chest screaming ‘Shoot me! Shoot me!’” the report said.
From inside the bedroom, Faustin allegedly said he would kill officers. His girlfriend said he “was having a mental episode” and had threatened to kill her and the owners of the home where she lived, and burn the house down, the police report said. She called police for help ejecting him. After the taser attack, officers managed to handcuff and “calm” Faustin and he agreed to leave but had to be carried down the stairs and shackled at the ankles, according to police.
The police report didn’t say what happened to the machete and knives they saw outside the bedroom. An officer “attempted to clear the area in anticipation of Faustin coming out of the room,” the report said.
In Cambridge, Faustin also begged officers to shoot him; however, he is accused of assaulting three officers and two civilians. Faustin had self-inflicted superficial cuts on his wrists when police finally arrested him at his apartment at 243 Broadway at around 1 p.m. Aug. 2, according to court records.
He was taken to CHA Cambridge Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. Cambridge District Court Judge David Frank then sent him to Bridgewater State Hospital for treatment and further assessment. The next hearing in his case is Aug. 22.
Faustin told Boston police he was a self-employed art teacher when they arrested him. Corporate records filed at secretary of state William Galvin’s office show that Faustin started two nonprofit corporations. One, in 2019, aimed to “help the youth of Boston and surrounding areas” age 12 to 18 “in utilizing their personal skills and talents” in the arts and Web design. The description of the other, in 2020, was unclear. It consisted of a list of goals such as “community service,” “crime prevention” and “fruit basket,” apparently to be achieved “through environmental design” and “counseling.”
Faustin filed an incorporation statement for each organization but did not submit required annual reports. Galvin’s office dissolved the corporations June 30.
This post was updated Oct. 15, 2025, to change a reference to an “ex-girlfriend” to reflect the relationship status described by that person.
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