Portsmouth man charged after overnight standoff with police

PORTSMOUTH — An overnight standoff on Boyd’s Lane ended peacefully this morning with the arrest of a local man on firearms charges.

James Lawrence, of 561 Boyd’s Lane, was taken into custody at about 6:35 a.m. Monday after Rhode Island State Police negotiators convinced him to leave his home, where he had been holed up since 9 p.m. Sunday after allegedly pointing a gun at a neighbor, according to Portsmouth Police Chief Thomas Lee.

Chief Lee said Mr. Lawrence, who’s “about 40,” will be charged with “assault by means of a dangerous weapon for pointing a firearm at a neighbor.” 

“He also made some threats to police. We’re still looking at possibly charging him with additional charges. He endangered his neighbor’s safety, he completely disrupted the neighbors here. We’re glad he did come out, though, and this was resolved peacefully,” the chief said.

The events unfolded around 9 p.m. Sunday, when police received a call from a neighbor that a man at 561 Boyd’s Lane had pointed a firearm at her, he said.

“It was some sort of an argument,” Chief Lee said. “We got down there and he had already gone back in the home and we weren’t able to get to him. We had heard there was another woman and a child possibly there, but then we heard they had left before we got there.”

Police set up a perimeter around the property in case the man was still inside and armed, he said. “We had reason to believe he had several firearms inside the home,” the chief said.

After about an hour, police had some contact with the man. “He refused to come out so we called for additional reinforcements, from Bristol, Middletown and then we got the State Police out here with their SWAT Team,” the chief said.

Mr. Lawrence had “barricaded himself in” and appeared to be under the influence of alcohol, the chief said. 

“We had some on-and-off contact with him through the night to try to negotiate with him. For a period about three hours or so, we hadn’t heard anything from him, so we moved the armored vehicle right up to the front door,” said the chief, who speculated that the man may have dozed off for a while. “We were able to get some contact again with him and we convinced him to come out. The State Police negotiators did a great job.”

Mr. Lawrence is known to police. “Portsmouth Police have arrested him in the past — a few years ago,” Chief Lee said.

He could possibly face domestic charges as police gather more information. “He had some sort of dispute with perhaps a girlfriend, who had left the house before the second argument happened with the neighbor. We’re still trying to find out all the information,” Chief Lee said.

During the standoff, police blocked traffic on Boyd’s Lane from the Mt. Hope Bridge to Anthony Road.

“We had Boyd’s Lane shut down from about 9 o’clock last night. But, we had great cooperation from Rhode Island DOT and we got some message boards out on (Route) 24. We did try to get the word out on Facebook that the roads would be closed,” Chief Lee said. Some neighbors near the site of the standoff were moved to a different location for their safety, he said.

“I’d just like to thank all the law enforcement officers involved,” the chief said. “They did a great job — the Portsmouth officers, the Middletown officers, the State Police, the Bristol officers. We all worked together as a team.”