A 47-year-old Lowell man was ordered held without bail Wednesday after police say he pointed a loaded revolver at his girlfriend's head in a Chelmsford parking lot before leading officers on a foot chase into Lowell and barricading himself inside his SUV for nearly an hour. Phoumano Keohavong now faces seven charges stemming from the early-morning confrontation, including assault with a dangerous weapon and multiple firearm violations.
According to The Lowell Sun, Chelmsford police received a report shortly after 4 a.m. on Wednesday of a fight between a man and a woman in the Cumberland Farms parking lot on Drum Hill Road. Keohavong's girlfriend told officers he approached her vehicle, asked to speak privately, and knocked on the window before she recognized he appeared to be carrying a concealed weapon, per her account relayed to police. She alleged he then pointed the firearm at her face and head, at which point she grabbed the gun back from him and he fled on foot toward Lowell, the paper reported. She told police she was not injured in the confrontation.
Keohavong's girlfriend also told police he had accused her of stealing ammunition and had pushed and shoved her during the encounter, according to the same account. She said he had recently been off his prescribed methadone and had been smoking methamphetamine, allegations detailed in the Sun's report. Officers tracked Keohavong from Drum Hill Road to Technology Drive in Lowell, where they located his 2007 Toyota Highlander at 10 Technology Drive and shut down the surrounding roadways.
NEMLEC SWAT Surrounds Barricaded SUV
With Keohavong refusing to leave the vehicle, Chelmsford police called in the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council SWAT team, a regional consortium of 68 municipal police departments and two county sheriff's offices across Middlesex and Essex counties that shares resources, including SWAT and K-9 capabilities, among member agencies. Police positioned cruisers against the front and rear of the Highlander and deployed a drone to help locate Keohavong inside the vehicle, the Sun reported. Officers also shattered the SUV's rear window, both to establish communication and for possible less-lethal purposes.
The standoff lasted roughly 40 to 50 minutes before SWAT officers removed Keohavong from the vehicle without incident shortly before 5:40 a.m., according to police cited in the Sun's report. Inside the Highlander, which the paper reported Keohavong had been living in, investigators say they found a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolver loaded with six rounds wrapped in a T-shirt in the front passenger compartment, along with 58 rounds of ammunition in a pistol case in the backseat. Police also reported finding a BB gun on the center console and a baggie containing a white powdery substance consistent with cocaine.
Charges Reflect Serious Firearm Exposure
Keohavong was arraigned in Lowell District Court on charges of assault and battery on a family or household member, assault with a dangerous weapon, possession of a Class B substance, carrying a dangerous weapon, carrying a firearm without an FID card, carrying ammunition without an FID card, and improper storage of a firearm, as independently confirmed by Patch. Police say Keohavong does not have a license to carry.
Under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 269, Section 10(a), carrying a firearm outside one's home or place of business without a valid License to Carry brings a mandatory minimum sentence of 18 months in a house of correction, according to Aprodu Law. Separately, assault by means of a dangerous weapon under General Laws Chapter 265, Section 15B(b) is a felony punishable by up to five years in state prison or two and a half years in a house of correction, per the Serpa Law Office, which notes the charge does not require physical contact, only an intentional threat of imminent harm with a weapon.
The Middlesex District Attorney's Office requested that Keohavong be held without bail, and a judge ordered him detained pending a Section 58A hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Regional Tactical Response, Local Support Resources
NEMLEC's SWAT teams own armored BearCat vehicles, according to CBS Boston. The consortium coordinates shared tactical resources and mutual aid across 925 square miles, giving smaller departments like Chelmsford's access to SWAT, negotiation and drone units they wouldn't otherwise maintain on their own.
For domestic violence survivors in the Greater Lowell area, Alternative House, established in 1978, offers a 24-hour crisis hotline, emergency shelter, housing advocacy and legal assistance. The Middlesex District Attorney's Office also requested that Keohavong be held without bail. Chelmsford police encouraged domestic violence victims to contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE or by texting LOVEIS to 22522.
No details about a previous nearby Dracut barricade standoff are provided here. It remains unclear whether an abuse prevention order was in place before Wednesday's incident, and the outcome of Keohavong's dangerousness hearing had not yet been determined at publication.
