SCITUATE - Police flooded a wooded area in North Scituate Tuesday morning with SWAT officers, police dogs, helicopters and armored trucks as they attempted to detain a man who said he had multiple guns and threatened to shoot himself and police.

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The standoff, which began around 8:30 a.m., lasted about five hours as local, state and federal law enforcement agencies set up a one-mile perimeter around the Ellis Estate property, near the Scituate Police station. Multiple schools were put into lock down and ordered to shelter in place. Homes in the area were evacuated and residents were not allowed to return to them until the incident was over.

Police cruisers, motorcycles, unmarked cruisers and armored vehicles whizzed up and down the small coastal town’s streets.

In the end, police detained and arrested Douglas Simonovitch, 46, of 491 North Main St., Oxford. As of Tuesday afternoon he had only been arrested on an outstanding warrant for allegedly violating a domestic abuse prevention order. The charge came out of Rockland and was issued in Hingham District Court on Oct. 6, Police Chief Michael Stewart said.

Simonovitch was going to undergo a mental evaluation and it was still being determined if he would be facing additional charges in relation to the massive police response.



"We have time to assess whether we are going to file additional charges on him. Right now our main concern is his mental health," Stewart said.

No weapons were found after his arrest inside the woods and police were using firearm-sniffing dogs to search the area for guns he may have had.



The incident started when a female acquaintance of Simonovitch's told police that they were driving down Route 3A when he got out of the car near the police station and said that he was going to harm himself, Stewart said.



By the time officers arrived, Simonovitch had walked into the woods.



Police spoke with him on a cell phone where "he indicated that if we approached him that he would shoot police," Stewart said.



Officers from several local police departments responded along with State Police, members of the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council, FBI, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

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The FBI provided assistance with helping to track Simonovitch's cell phone and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on standby with the firearm-sniffing dogs, Stewart said.



A portion of Route 3A near the police station was shutdown and several roads in North Scituate, leading toward the department, were blocked off by officers, some of which were carrying rifles.



Scituate High School, Cushing Elementary School and Gates Middle School were placed in a lock down.



"I didn’t know what was going on," Sandra Ponichtera, mother of two Scituate students, said. "All I knew is that I was getting reports that there was somebody loose potentially within a mile of my house."



Ponichtera left work to try and pick up her kids from school. She said she was told by police that she could not go to her home, which was about a quarter-mile from the police station.



Eventually, a SWAT team went into the woods and Simonovitch gave himself up and he was placed under arrest. He was intoxicated at the time, Stewart said.



After he was placed in custody, the lock down on the schools were lifted and the roads reopened.



Asked if the incident warranted such a large response from law enforcement, Stewart said they were concerned with his safety and containing him within the perimeter with the proper amount of people.



"Time and resources, when everyone is safe at the end of the day that's nothing. We'll gladly deploy those type of resources," he said.



Stewart said he believes Simonovitch is a veteran and has no criminal record. It would be determined by Wednesday morning whether he would be sent to a hospital for evaluation or taken to court to face the restraining order violation charge.

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