Suspect Not Home During Newtown Twp. Standoff: Court Records

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — The suspect in a Sunday morning domestic incident wasn't home during what police thought was a barricade situation in the Headley Trace development, according to court documents.

John William Spiropoulos, 24, of Newtown Township, has been charged with making terroristic threats, simple assault, and harassment for the incident that unfolded Sunday morning and lasted about three hours.

His preliminary hearing has been scheduled for March 28 before Judge Mick Petrucci in Newtown.

According to court documents, Newtown Township Police were called to a home on Independence Place for a domestic disturbance called in by a third party who was not at the scene. The woman told police that her daughter had a gun pointed at her head during an argument with her boyfriend.

When police arrived, they located the woman who had an abrasion above her right eye, a scratch below her left eye and a bruise on her left leg. She told police that the injuries were caused by her boyfriend. She told police that he grabbed her by the hair, struck her in the face multiple times, and pointed a gun at the back of her head while repeatedly threatening her, court documents said.

Patrol units attempted to make contact with Spiropoulos with no success, court documents say. Believing that he was now barricaded inside, the Bucks County South Central SWAT Team was activated. Multiple residences were evacuated for at least three hours and police issued a shelter-in-place order for the development.

Upon their arrival, court documents say negotiators were able to reach Spiropoulos via the phone. He told them he was not at the house, but was "in fact now walking around the neighborhood." A short time later, patrol units were able to locate him and place him in custody without incident.