EASTON, MASS. (WHDH) - Two men, including one who allegedly threatened to kill his boyfriend, were arrested Monday morning after a standoff involving several people at a home in Easton.
Police were called around midnight to a home on Old Foundry Street for a report of possibly armed subjects who were barricaded inside, and a nearly 10-hour standoff followed, according to officials.
The Easton Police Department and a heavily-armed SWAT team descended upon the typically quiet neighborhood overnight. Residents were asked to stay away from the area, but neighbors say they heard several blasts during the standoff.
“I heard a big blast. It sounded like a bomb went off,” a neighbor told 7News.
Police say they learned that Anthony Tartarouns, 25, was armed with a gun and among eight people inside. Some surrendered peacefully, while others remained holed up inside.
“They were smashing windows, using blow horns, and flash bangs,” one man who was inside the home said after surrendering. “I didn’t want to die.”
Tartarouns was taken into the custody by mid-morning on a warrant out of North Attleboro. Prosecutors allege Tartarouns threatened to murder his boyfriend following a fight. On a drive to Easton, he allegedly punched and kicked the victim for failing to pick him up from work on time.
“The defendant called him several names, called him a snitch. He stated that if he called the police he was going to get killed,” prosecutor Natasha Acevedo said.
Officials say officers in Easton spotted a vehicle matching the description of Tartarouns’ car. The standoff then ensued when officers tracked him down and tried to make an arrest at a home where a second boyfriend lives with his parents.
Jordan Creech, 22, of Boston was also arrested on a warrant out of Stoughton District Court for an unrelated charge.
Police dogs searched the home and yard. No weapons were found. No injuries were reported.
Tartarouns pleaded not guilty to domestic assault and battery, strangulation, assault and battery by a dangerous weapon, defacing property and intimidation of the victim.
The incident is under investigation.
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