​Joke About Beard Leads To Gun Threat, Other Charges In Concord

CONCORD, NH — A Concord man is facing numerous charges after a domestic incident inside a Heights apartment in mid-October that led to gun threat and other charges.

Around 11 p.m. on Oct. 15, police were sent to Ormond Street for a report of a domestic incident in progress. A woman, who was very upset, called 911 to state a man was out of control and had to leave their apartment. When police arrived, they found the apartment locked but were able to look inside a window and saw a woman crying while a man, later identified as Joshua Land, 36, of Concord, “stomping around inside the apartment.”

The officer motioned the woman to unlock the apartment door, which she did, and police investigated the incident. The woman informed the police immediately that Land was armed, the officer wrote in an affidavit.

The officer stated the apartment was “in a state of disarray,” with items all over the floor. Land was holding a dog and said “something to the effect that I’m not leaving in handcuffs, you’ll have to shoot me,” the affidavit said. He was asked to calm down and discuss the matter.

Land said when he came home from work, the woman made derogatory comments about his sexuality while she was drinking heavily and they got into an argument, the report stated. He was accused of admitting to “throwing stuff around and yelling” but denied any assault occurred. The woman also did not assault him, the report stated. The officer said Land confirmed he was armed and was asked not to reach for his firearm, the affidavit said.

The reporting officer spoke to the woman who admitted to making a joke about something she saw in his beard and “Land went off,” the report said. They argued for several minutes before he “got his pistol and left the building,” the report stated. Quickly, she said, he returned and she said she wanted to end their relationship, the affidavit said.

The woman accused Land of yelling and ripping a fire extinguisher from the wall, throwing it to the ground. She then went into another room and called 911 but accused him of busting down a door and taking her phone. She denied being assaulted, the report stated, but accused Land of stating he was going to use the firearm.

The officer confirmed the extinguisher was mounted but appeared to have been ripped off the wall. The screw holes were stripped and there was dust on the floor, he wrote. The doorframe in the other room was badly cracked and damaged, the officer wrote.

The officer accused Land of admitting to taking away the woman’s phone while she was calling 911. He asked about whether or not he would be arrested and made comments about not wanting to be sexually assaulted if sent to prison, the report stated.

At this point, the officer wrote, there was probable cause to arrest Land. He was advised that he was being arrested but was accused of standing up, beginning to walk away, and putting “his right hand on his right hip in the area of his firearm,” the officer said.

“Based on the statements made by (both parties), I believed Land was going to draw his firearm and put the other officers and myself in danger,” the officer wrote.

A second officer drew his handgun and grabbed Land’s shirt, ordering him to surrender, the affidavit stated. However, Land said “he wanted to be killed” and continued to walk backward, the affidavit said. The officers pushed him up against a wall and he landed on a bed as they tried to remove the handgun from him, the report said. A sergeant also assisted and the three officers attempted to get him under control so they could remove his handgun. The reporting officer accused Land of continuing to struggle so he punched him in the head twice, the affidavit stated.

The reporting officer was then able to grab the handgun and give it to the second officer, the report stated, but Land continued to struggle. The second officer, upon returning, stunned him with a Taster twice and they were able to get him into handcuffs. He was charged with felony criminal threatening-conduct with a firearm as well as criminal mischief, obstruct report of crime-injury, domestic violence-obstruct report of crime-injury, and resisting arrest or detention.

The officer later listened to a 911 recording and hear the woman crying while asking for police and accused Land of saying, “I’m not going.”

Land was arraigned in Merrimack County Superior Court on Oct. 18. He has a dispositional conference hearing on Jan. 10, 2022.

Editor's note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Concord Police Department and does not indicate a conviction. This link explains the removal request process for New Hampshire Patch police reports.

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