A man with a permit to carry held another man at gunpoint until police arrived, after catching him in the act of stealing his car from a hospital parking lot.Nashua Police Lt. Denis Linehan said at about 11:50 a.m. police responded to the parking lot across from Southern New Hampshire Medical Center for a report of a man holding a gun to another man's head. "Patrol units responded and we shut down the area and tried to maintain a perimeter to keep pedestrians out of harm's way. Upon further investigation we learned that James Paul, 33, of 32 A Route 101 A in Amherst, was attempting to steal a vehicle parked in lot and the man's car he was trying to steal had a permit to carry, and felt threatened by Mr. Paul's actions. As a result, he detained Mr. Paul at gunpoint until the arrival of Nashua police," Linehan said.It took police a few minutes to sort out who was the bad guy, given the situation. But police arrested Paul a short time later. He was charged with attempted unauthorized use of a propelled vehicle, a misdemeanor. Linehan said Paul was inside the vehicle when the other man, whose identity is not yet being released, found him inside the car and in the act of stealing the car, Linehan said. That's when he pulled a pistol on Paul."We're not identifying the other man until we are able to talk to some other people, but we have verified he had a permit to carry. By all accounts it appears he acted appropriately," Linehan said. "But I want to stress it's still in the preliminary stage of investigation."Linehan said from the time of the call until the scene was being cleared, the incident lasted about 20 minutes."Obviously we're glad nobody got injured," Linehan said.

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