Thank you for joining me this morning:
"Fire follows police standoff at Everett apartment" by Jeremy C. Fox and Aimee Ortiz Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent December 25, 2015
EVERETT — Police arrested a man Friday night after a five-hour standoff that began with reports of shots being fired and ended with the suspect’s home in flames.
No one was injured in the standoff.
Just before they arrested 53-year-old Mark Lavoine, who police said was holed up alone in his residence, officers saw flames engulfing the house at 97 Summer St. After setting up a perimeter around the house, police made several attempts to contact the suspect, according to Everett Chief of Police Steven A. Mazzie, who said the suspect refused to speak with them. Ultimately they shot canisters of pepper spray into the house.
Ah-choo!
The fire capped a tense afternoon. Officers had cordoned off the street, and an armored vehicle was positioned in front of the house with officers crouched behind it. Officials repeatedly urged the man to leave the building.
Several blocks were cordoned off by yellow police tape, with a crowd of neighbors gathered to watch the spectacle late into the afternoon. A sharpshooter was on the roof of Bucci’s, a pizzeria across from the Summer Street home.
Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria applauded the police.
“They acted quickly,’’ he said, adding officers protected the neighborhood and ended the standoff with the suspect unharmed.
The site of the standoff was a building with two apartments, according to Ronald Castor, who said he lives next to the building. In one apartment, a man named Mark lives alone, Castor said. The other apartment is empty, he added.
“He’s not a happy guy,” said Castor, 44. “He’s always by himself. He doesn’t talk to people.”
Earlier Friday, Castor said, he heard a noise that he thought was an explosion, and he ran to his basement for safety. Officers called him to say it was a gunshot.
“They told me to stay inside, and after that, they came and told me to get out of the house,” he said. “Nothing happened after that.”
A neighbor who declined to give her name said she had heard a “super-loud bang” coming from the home at about noon or 1 p.m. and wondered if it might be a gas explosion. About a half hour later, she said, police began to close down the streets around the home.
The woman, who said she had lived across the street for about two years, said she had never met the suspect.
“I don’t even know who lives in that house, actually,” she said. “My husband’s seen him a few times. We know that he drives an old Mercedes. That’s all.”
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"Man held without bail in Everett Christmas standoff" by Andy Rosen Globe Staff December 30, 2015
An Everett man will remain held without bail on charges that he barricaded himself inside his home during a five-hour Christmas Day standoff with police, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Mark H. Lavoine, 53, had previously pleaded not guilty to charges of assault with a dangerous weapon, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building, and disorderly conduct.
At a hearing Wednesday, Malden District Court Judge Michael Patten ordered Lavoine to remain in custody pending his next court date Jan. 20, according to the Middlesex district attorney’s office.
Prosecutors said at an earlier court appearance that Lavoine told investigators he feared police were going to kill him when they entered his Summer Street home, so he blockaded himself in a room.
I can't imagine why he would think that.
He also allegedly told authorities he could have shot one of the officers who entered his home, but that he decided not to.
Police were called to Lavoine’s home for a report of a shot fired shortly before noon last Friday. Lavoine legally owned 20 firearms, including several pistols.
Hmmmmmm.
He later told investigators that he had not fired a weapon, but had instead been smashing cans with a hammer.
In the standoff, a SWAT team was unable to persuade Lavoine to leave his home, so the officers began throwing gas canisters into the house. A rubber-pellet grenade tossed into the structure set a rug ablaze, and that fire ignited a snowblower that had gas in its tank, according to court records.
Oh, it was the police that started the fire.
Lavoine allegedly told officers that he had tried to put out the fire, but was forced to leave the home. The house was engulfed in flames shortly afterward.
So he's homeless now? That why they keeping him in jail?
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Also see: Everett standoff suspect thought police would kill him
I may have to kill it right here because I have some things to do this afternoon. Maybe I make it back later. In any event, I wish you all the joy in 2016.
UPDATE: Everett man pleads not guilty to attack on Boston policeman
