Crime

Barricaded man with machete gives up after police use flash-bangs

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By Guy Page

A Georgia man is in jail and due in court Friday after he barricaded himself inside a home Thursday, August 22. After more than four hours he surrendered when police used ‘flash-bang’ grenades.

The incident elicited a heavy police response, including 10 police cruisers driving from eastern Vermont at a high rate of speed. Commenters on Reddit yesterday observed the speeding convoy of cruisers, lights flashing, near the I-89 exit in Sharon and wondered where they were going. State police authorities confirmed they were headed to Georgia. 

State Police arrested Matthew Richard, 40, of Georgia Thursday, Aug. 22 on multiple charges after police say he entered a home armed with a machete and then barricaded himself in a home for more than four hours. 

No one was injured in the incident. Richard is due to be arraigned Friday, Aug. 23, on charges of aggravated domestic assault, burglary, unlawful mischief, and violation of conditions of release. Richard was jailed on an outstanding arrest warrant with $10,000 bail on the violation-of-conditions charge, which arises from an underlying case involving aggravated assault on a law-enforcement officer and other counts that originate with the Swanton Police Department.

Thursday’s incident began at about 8:30 a.m. when police responded to a report that Richard was attempting to break into a home and was using a machete to threaten a family member. Richard subsequently barricaded himself in a nearby home, and police learned he might have had access to a firearm.

Multiple Vermont State Police units responded to the scene, including the Crisis Negotiation Unit, Tactical Services Unit, Bomb Squad, Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program, and the K-9 Unit. Additional agencies included the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, the Milton Police Department, the Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife, and AmCare.

CNU negotiators attempted to speak with Richard until about 2 p.m., when troopers deployed flash-bang devices into the residence. Richard subsequently walked out of the home and surrendered without further incident.

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Categories: Crime

6 replies »

  1. GREAT job as always, Legislators!!!!!

    You’ve destroyed Vermont & you the inmates are running the insane asylum!!!!!

    You are each a disgrace to your constituencies, families, and traitors to this state and to this nation.

    You ought be charged & punished under Treason Article 3 Section lll of the US Constitution.

  2. this is the same house that the old man shot some intruders with a muzzle loader rifle a few weeks ago/// the intruders were looking for matt richard////// at that time i think i said there was more to this story///

  3. Lots of articles lately mentioning assault machetes. Yes, anything used to harm another person can be called an assault weapon. Machetes have also been used on the battlefield in numerous wars. If this sounds familiar, it’s the same method used by liberals to deflect from the criminal user to the inanimate object. Removing objects just leads to using other objects to do harm or murder. The most effective crime tool is removing the criminal. Objects like, tools, knives, bats, golf clubs and firearms cannot operate themselves. Removing or banning them does not stop criminals from getting them. Like the guy in this article, if he was in jail or a mental institution where he apparently belongs none of this would have happened. Deflection is a tool also used to brainwash people not used to thinking on their own.

  4. This guy looks vaguely familiar, and I don’t think he’s from Georgia, where is he actually from I wonder?