A seven-hour standoff at a Gardner apartment ended early Saturday when 42-year-old David Margeson surrendered to police, according to NewsLinkLive. The incident began around 7:30 p.m. Friday, when officers went to 53 Waterford Street in response to a report that a man inside was making violent threats and might be armed.
Officers found Margeson locked inside his apartment, NewsLinkLive reported. He remained barricaded there and made threats against officers, while police worked to resolve the standoff. The report says the Massachusetts State Police Crisis Negotiation Team assisted; Newport Dispatch also reported that state police and the Gardner Fire Department assisted.
Margeson surrendered around 2:30 a.m. Saturday, the reports said. NewsLinkLive reported that he was arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon. The available accounts do not specify the weapon alleged or establish what happened in court after the arrest.
A separate Gardner standoff in 2019
The Waterford Street incident is not the only reported Gardner standoff in recent years, though the cases were separate and differ in location and circumstances. The Gardner News reported that police responded to 168 Parker St. in December 2019 after a call about a domestic disturbance; witnesses told officers a man inside had a shotgun. State police negotiators made contact with Linwood Fisher, 34, who was taken into custody that night. That earlier report provides a local example of negotiators assisting in a standoff, but the two incidents do not establish a broader trend.
