Police say an armed suspect is in custody after a tense night in Newmarket, New Hampshire, where the downtown was sealed off and a shelter in place was issued for area residents.
Newmarket police said in an update around 8 a.m. Friday that Mark Allen McLean, 59, of Newmarket, was taken into custody around 4:10 a.m. and is facing four counts of domestic violence assault, two counts of robbery, two counts of resisting arrest or detention and single counts of false imprisonment, criminal threatening, burglary, possession of a controlled drug and fugitive from justice. They said the investigation is ongoing.
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WATCH HERELocal and state police initially said only that they were responding overnight to an incident downtown, and anyone in the area was asked to temporarily shelter in place. A portion of Main Street was reportedly shut down sometime around 11 p.m. Thursday, and the situation remained active until about 4 a.m. Friday.
Residents reported that a heavy police presence was visible and drivers were being directed away from the area.
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SIGN UP MaryGrace Benjamin, who lives in town, said she saw several state police vehicles, as well as police from neighboring Stratham and Exeter. She said she saw some officers holding rifles.
Newmarket police posted an update on Facebook just before 3 a.m. saying they were "currently responding to an incident in the Main St area" and asking anyone in the area to shelter in place and report any suspicious behavior to police at 603-659-6636.
"Residents in the area can expect to hear drones, K9 teams, and police units making announcements over loudspeakers. Please continue to shelter in place," the post said.
State police confirmed they were assisting local police with the situation.
"The New Hampshire State Police are providing an assistive role to the Newmarket Police Department. We’d defer to them for any available public information," a state police spokesman said in an email received shortly after midnight.
Just before 5 a.m., Newmarket police posted another update to Facebook saying the shelter in place had been lifted, and the incident was under control.
They said in their 8 a.m. update that the incident started when they received a request for a welfare check from a concerned family member. The caller reported hearing an argument during a phone call with her mother, which ended abruptly. Subsequent calls reportedly raised additional concern for the mother's safety.
Police responded and began searching the area, eventually making contact with the mother. She told officers that she had been the victim of a domestic assault, so police immediately began searching for the suspect.
A short time later, officers were dispatched to a downtown business where the same suspect had reportedly arrived, brandishing a gun, and made threats of self-harm and his intent to provoke a confrontation by law enforcement. The suspect, identified by witnesses as McLean, then fled into a large mill complex nearby.
Additional law enforcement resources, including a regional SWAT team, were deployed to assist with the search. Multiple locations in town and the mill complex were searched throughout the night.
Around 4:10 a.m., police found McLean hiding inside an apartment in the mill complex, which is not where he lives. Following a brief struggle, he was taken into custody and transported to a local hospital as a precaution.
Newmarket is a town of about 9,000 residents in New Hampshire's seacoast region, located one town away from the University of New Hampshire and about 15 miles from Portsmouth.
