Homeless Man Accused Of Threatening To Kill People At Concord Prom

CONCORD, NH — A homeless man was arrested on numerous charges after an incident during the Concord High School prom on Thursday.

Gordon Robert Hollingworth, 28, a homeless man now located in Concord, was arrested on criminal threatening, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, simple assault on a police officer, and three breach of bail charges. He is being held without bail and will be arraigned in court on Friday.

This year's prom was at the Bank of New Hampshire Stage on South Main Street. The street was closed between Pleasant Street and Hills Avenue and police were on safety details in the area. During the process of students entering the performance space, police reported a man with a weapon in the area around 6:15 p.m., according to dispatch.

Over the air, an officer could be heard requesting backup after encountering a white man who had his face covered in a bandana and was threatening people.

“It looks like he has mental health issues,” the officer said. “Can you start a couple more units?”

One officer, who was at the Concord Food Coop, headed to the area. The first officer said the man had something in his hand, making it look like he had a firearm, but it was not a firearm.

Hollingworth was accused of running into the crowd and threatening to kill people, police said, and then fled the area. Officers gave chase but before the other officers arrived, Hollingworth was contained at the intersection of South Main and Fayette streets.

Lt. Robert Buelte, a watch commander with the Concord Police Department, said Hollingworth was actually in possession of a paintbrush pretending it was a gun.

After the incident, rumors spread on social media that a student at the prom was Tased at the event, but Buelte said the rumor was inaccurate. An officer did draw a Taser during the incident with Hollingworth, but it was not deployed.

Hollingworth, according to a post on Facebook, was also previously assigned to pretrial services and was out on bail from three previous incidents. According to reports on Patch, he was arrested in April three times: On April 1, he was arrested on stalking and resisting arrest or detention charges. On April 2, he was arrested on criminal threatening, simple assault, and domestic violence-simple assault charges. And then, on April 11, he was arrested again on stalking and breach of bail charges. All three arrests occurred after incidents on Manchester Street.

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