Hyannis Standoff Suspect Fired Gun At SWAT Team After Holding Mom At Knifepoint: Police

HYANNIS, MA — A 30-year-old man has been identified as the person who barricaded themselves in a Cape Cod home on Wednesday, prompting an hours-long standoff in which he fired a weapon at SWAT team members, police said.

Justin Moreira, 30, is set to be arraigned on Thursday after the standoff, which prompted numerous area schools to shelter-in-place on Wednesday.

Around 7:41 a.m. on Wednesday, the Barnstable Police Department was called to a home on St. Francis Circle in Hyannis. The caller told officials that Moreira was holding his mother at knifepoint.

As patrol units responded, the caller advised dispatch that he, his mother and another female were able to barricade themselves in another room in the residence, but Moreira, who was armed, also remained somewhere unknown inside the home.

Barnstable officers arrived on the scene and were able to safely evacuate the family out a window of the home. The officers also immediately contained Moreira inside the house. The family reported to the police that Moreira most likely had access to firearms inside the house.

The Cape Cod Regional SWAT Team was called to the scene and took over command of the incident.

Initial attempts to have Moreira come out of the home were unsuccessful. Shortly after the first attempts, police said Moreira began firing on the SWAT team’s ballistic vehicle with a firearm.

"Fortunately, the vehicle protected the SWAT team members inside, as bullets ricocheted off the side of the armored truck," police said.

Further negotiations with Moreira were also unsuccessful.

"On-scene negotiators and the police department’s mental health clinician tried to convince Moreira to come out of the home peacefully, but he refused and continued to periodically fire rifle and handgun rounds on perimeter scene SWAT officers surrounding the house," Barnstable officials said.

Later in the standoff, the Massachusetts State Police deployed a robotic dog inside the home in a further attempt to locate and convince Moreira to come out of the home. However, Moreira shot the robot and partially disabled it.

After seven hours of continued negotiations, Moreira still refused to come out of his home.

The SWAT Team then deployed a form of pepper spray into the home, but Moreira remained inside. Officials eventually used a specialty ballistic vehicle with an attached demolition tool to "forcibly encourage Moreira to exit the residence."

He was then taken into custody without injury by the SWAT Team, and is currently being held at the Barnstable Police Department.

Moreira is charged with several counts of attempted murder as well as additional firearms charges.