Massachusetts police have been engaged in a lengthy standoff with a man who barricaded himself inside his home Friday after shooting two family members — then spraying bullets at officers who tried to arrest him.
Worcester police have been negotiating with the unidentified 24-year-old man since he fired at his relatives just before 8:30 a.m. in their Colby Avenue home.
Officers were able to safely remove the male and female victims from the house, but found themselves under a hail of bullets when they tried to cuff the suspect.
“During their attempts to take him into custody, he fired rounds at the officers — thankfully not striking any of them,” Worcester Police Lt. Sean Murtha said during a press conference.
“At that point, he ran back in the house. And so at this time, we believe he’s in the house.”
Hostage negotiators and a mental health clinician have been working the scene for more than 10 hours.
Experts have been working with family members to reach the man, who is in the home alone.
“We do have some potential phone numbers to call,” Murtha said. “We have a loudspeaker. There are various ways that we can attempt to make contact. And again, in a situation like this, time is on our side, generally. We want to slow things down. We want to do everything we can to ensure a peaceful resolution.”
Police are using drones to keep tabs on him to ensure he doesn’t leave the perimeter, but aren’t sure where he has holed himself up inside the house.
The man has not made any efforts to contact the police or respond to their tactics.
The department said that the suspect is “not well known” to Worcester police.
“I can’t say he’s not somebody we regularly deal with,” Murtha said.
The victims were transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, though police said one victim was more seriously injured than the other.
Police have shut down roads connected to Colby Avenue and used a reverse 911 system to contact neighbors as a precaution.
