mcdonl
Member
Not too news worthy, but I thought there were some good pictures of the men in blue in action. Turns out they could not find a gun, but I know when I have to wonder around those particular streets... I have mine.
http://photos.tomcouture.com/p85974330
News Story Here....
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=268686&ac=PHnws
http://photos.tomcouture.com/p85974330
News Story Here....
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=268686&ac=PHnws
PORTLAND — A section of Congress Street was shut down for more than an hour Thursday as police investigated reports of a man pointing a gun out a fourth-floor window.
Officers drew a crowd of onlookers as they took up positions armed with assault weapons and established a perimeter outside 658 Congress St., but ultimately no arrests were made.
Police said a search of the apartment where the alleged gunman was spotted turned up no gun. They briefly took into custody and interviewed two men and one juvenile, all of whom were released, prompting anger from those who had reported the incident.
"You're just going to let them go?" yelled Frank Fournier, who described an escalating neighborhood dispute and said that just before he saw a gun, someone in the apartment had dropped beer bottles onto the ground.
Fournier also said that the men had time to hide or discard a gun before police arrived.
Police were called to the four-story building about 12:45 p.m. They kept onlookers at either end of the block bounded by High and State streets as officers developed a plan for entering the building, not knowing whether a gunman might be inside.
Police, some using protective shields, entered the building and took into custody two people who were found in a stairwell and matched descriptions given by witnesses. Police then contacted the apartment tenant, who let police in to search it.
They turned up no gun or other contraband, said Capt. Ted Ross, head of patrol for the department.
Fournier said confrontations with the men questioned Thursday and others in the neighborhood have led to his being charged twice with assault.
"They sent me to jail and said I'm a vigilante, just for being forced to defend everybody," he said.
Ross said police cannot charge someone merely based on witnesses' accounts without any evidence to support the charge.
"Without locating a handgun, we can't just arbitrarily arrest people," he said.
The police will continue to investigate the incident, Ross said. He urged residents and workers in the area not to allow the dispute to escalate, and to let police complete their investigation.
Peter Comeau, who works as a laborer and security guard for Fournier, said disputes in the area have been growing. He said there have been confrontations involving knives, so he armed himself with a gun.
Comeau said Thursday that after the beer bottles dropped, one of the men pointed a gun down toward the sidewalk.
"I looked up and I saw a big chrome handgun," he said.
Dick Stetson, who works at a barber shop next door, said some of the men at the apartment building have started hanging out in the street, and that there have been hostile encounters with them.
"They almost pushed me over," he said.
Ross said there have been disturbances associated with the apartment, according to building managers, but he could not be more specific.
Two of the suspects released by police declined to comment about the incident when questioned by several members of the media, although one of them was laughing and saying that there had been no gun.
(Just kidding....)