HINGHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - A barricaded subject who opened fire on a SWAT team in Hingham on Saturday morning has been taken into custody after hours of neighbors being ordered to shelter in place, police said.
Officers responding to reports of a domestic incident at the Hingham Shipyard Apartments at 6:15 a.m. found a woman and two children in the building’s lobby.
The woman told officers the man had a handgun and when officers spoke to the man, he threatened to shoot them and made statements about “suicide by cop,” police said.
Another man allegedly called 911 from inside the apartment, saying he was locked in a bathroom, and officers called the SWAT team, according to police.
SWAT members used a fire truck to reach the third-floor apartment and get the 911 caller, and the man barricaded in the apartment fired several shots and threw an unexploded device at officers who were inside and around an armored vehicle, police said.
No one was hurt but hundreds of residents were ordered to shelter in place. Brad Warner, who lives on the same floor as the suspect, said he woke up to a SWAT team banging on his door.
“The cops knocked on the door and asked us to leave, I was like ‘I have no idea what’s going on,'” Warner said. “It was kind of tense.”
“We saw the SWAT downstairs, the drone, and they yelled ‘Get out,” said resident Robert Montgomery.
Resident Stefan Dagacik said he sought shelter at Foster Elementary School, which was open for residents displaced by the standoff.
“We have small children who live there and any one of us could have been walking out this morning and been a target,” Dagacik said. “That shooter could have taken a shot at me, I wouldn’t have known.”
Sgt. Steven Dearth said police sent out frequent text updates and alerts during the hours-long standoff.
“We did everything we could to keep them safe and alert them to keep them informed,” Dearth said, adding officers spoke with the suspect over the phone throughout the standoff. “It ended in a peaceful resolution, which is the best solution for everyone, and no one was injured.”
The man came out of his apartment at 12:45 p.m and was arrested without incident, police said. Officers allegedly found a semi-automatic handgun hidden in a ceiling vent of his apartment.
Pharaoh L. Yahtues, 37, was charged with armed assault to murder, discharging an explosive, firing a gun within 500 feet of a building, possession of a gun without a license (second offense), possession of ammunition without license, disturbing the peace and possession of a theft detection removal device.
He will be arraigned Monday in Hingham District Court.
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