"A 27-year-old man is heading to prison for threatening staff at an Attleboro hospital with a hypodermic syringe he said contained lethal chemicals. The Sun Chronicle reported that Thomas Howe was sentenced Thursday to one year in prison. Authorities said Howe assaulted security guards and threatened staff at Sturdy Memorial Hospital on two successive days in August 2014. On Christmas of that year, prosecutors say Howe squirted a syringe at a security guard that contained liquid he said would ‘‘kill you in 30 minutes.’’ He also brandished a knife. Howe pleaded with the judge for leniency and blamed substance abuse for his actions (
AP)."