NASHUA, N.H (WHDH) - Pelham, New Hampshire police are hailing a “courageous” armed neighbor who held a break-in suspect at gunpoint on Wednesday until they arrived on scene.
7NEWS was the only station in Hillsborough County Superior Court Thursday as 16-time convict Andrew Billcliff was arraigned on burglary charges. Billcliff held his head in his hands as prosecutors revealed he was out on bail for another alleged burglary in his hometown of Plaistow.
An officer responding to a reported break-in on Kennedy Drive around 4:30 p.m. spoke with the homeowner who said she returned home to find an unknown Chevrolet Avalanche in her driveway with no one in it and the engine running.
“She thought that was suspicious,” Police Sgt. Matt Keenliside said.
She said that is when she asked her neighbor to check things out, he found a man inside, presented his firearm, and held him in the driveway until officers arrived.
When the officer got there, police say the neighbor announced that he had a gun and secured it under the officer’s direction.
Billcliff’s long criminal history which includes 17 prior convictions ranging from drug possession to armed robbery, played out before the court.
Sixteen of those convictions are out of Massachusetts.
Neighbors say they are shocked someone would come to a dead-end street to commit a crime like this.
“You would think if somebody is going to pull a stunt like that you’d want a way to get out of the neighborhood, but once you’re in here you’re in. you can’t get out except going the same way so I’m surprised,” Jim Bonomo who lives near the victim said.
The defense asked that Billcliff be released on $1,000 bail and have access to a treatment program.
He is currently being held without bail awaiting his next hearing.
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