Attempted Burglary On Windham Drive Leads To East Side Manhunt

CONCORD, NH — Concord police spent about three hours trying to catch an attempted burglar on the east side of the city Friday. At just after 6:30 p.m., officers were sent to Windham Drive for a resident who reported seeing a man on a security camera attempting to enter his home through a window. One officer noted, while driving to the home, that a similar incident occurred at the home a few days ago and there was a warrant for a suspect in that incident.

The man was described as tall, wearing black pants, a white or yellow reflective sweatshirt, with a black knit cap.

As officers arrived, they walked around to the back of the house and one officer yelled, "Copy, he's running."

When asked which way the man was running, the officer said he was heading down a side trail toward East Sugar Ball Road, while she was chasing the suspect.

Another officer headed to the area with an infrared scope and requested the officers attempt to contain him. Three more officers headed to the eastern part of the city to assist.

The homes in the development are structured like an infinity symbol and after about a half hour of searching, one officer surmised the suspect may have ducked into some woods on Pelham Lane, an adjacent street.

A deputy sheriff who lives in the area met with the officer to let them know that they heard crackling branches in the woods near their home behind Pelham Lane — almost like someone ran through the woods. Another officer suggested sending someone to Ladybug Lane to see if the suspect was on the eastern side of the development.

Eventually, officers found what looked like fresh tracks in the snow on Pelham Lane.

At just before 7:30 p.m., an officer reported tracking footprints to Venne Circle and then, toward Portsmouth Street, heading west toward Broken Ground Drive.

The officer with the infrared scope circled around to Broken Ground Drive as multiple officers followed tracks through the snow.

About 10 minutes later, officers told dispatch the tracks led them back toward Windham Drive, according to scanner chatter. The trail then led back onto East Sugar Ball Road and East Side Drive.

Around 7:45 p.m., an officer spotted the suspect.

"He's running down behind the wood line, behind Pelham," the officer said. "I've lost visual."

The suspect was spotted again on East Sugar Ball Road as officers attempted to form a perimeter around the area.

Meanwhile, the initial homeowners who called began searching through video footage and reported back to police dispatch that they believed the suspect was a man accused of stealing firearms from the home last year. He was also arrested on a drug charge in December, according to a report on Patch. The family had a restraining order against him and there is an active warrant for his arrest, dispatch noted.

At just before 8 p.m., an officer was flagged down by a resident on East Sugar Ball Road and found more fresh tracks in the snow. Police also requested dispatch to see if there was a K-9 unit available from another department.

While waiting for a New Hampshire State Police K-9, some officers tracked the fresh trail to a shed but he wasn't inside. The deputy sheriff was asked to stage on Interstate 393 along East Sugar Ball to make sure the suspect didn't try to elude police by walking along the Interstate.

When the K-9 arrived, it began to track the snow prints while other officers headed to the "bird" streets — Jay Drive, Oriole Road, and Cardinal Road, and Regency Hill Estates — to see if he was able to break from the perimeter, according to scanner chatter.

The K-9 tracked the suspect's trail to the row of houses on Portsmouth Street just to the west of the East Sugar Ball trail while other officers began checking the license plates of vehicles in the area.

"In this area, somewhere, he circled back around while we were following him," one officer said.

The K-9 continued to track the suspect back along Portsmouth Street to Ladybug Lane.

While the K-9 unit and officers were continuing to search Portsmouth Street, a homeowner on East Sugar Ball Road called police to report there was someone crouched down on the side of his home not far from East Side Drive.

As officers arrived at the home, around 9:30 p.m., the suspect spotted them, ran toward the back of the home, jumped a fence, and sprinted along I-393 toward West Sugar Ball Road. The suspect headed down a ravine that ran parallel to the highway with police chasing him. After about 5 minutes, he dropped to the ground and held his hands up to surrender, according to scanner chatter.

Concord NH Patch will post an update when more information becomes available.

Got a news tip? Send it to me at tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos at https://www.youtube.com/user/tonyschinella.