even the homies that rip tranny experienced a certain level of denial. strobel getting the love seat after MANY tries. rad...he's been waiting for this shot to surface for months. t.v. dropped in (third times a charm). we kept it super quiet....
then this happened...
NASHUA – Police cruisers, SWAT teams and armored cars disrupted a quiet night in downtown Nashua when police received an emergency call between 12:30 and 12:45 Monday morning about an armed home invasion on Morningside Drive.
In the 16 hours that followed, police placed one of the three suspects in custody and were searching for the two others.
According to police, Lorenzo Alson, 21, of 193 Albany Ave., Apt. 5C, in Brooklyn, N.Y., broke into the basement apartment at 2 Morningside Drive between 12:30 and 12:45 a.m. along with two other black males armed with a shotgun and two handguns. The report came from one of the house’s residents living upstairs.
Deputy Police Chief John Seusing said when police arrived on the scene minutes later, four victims were seen fleeing the house and were safely evacuated.
Before police could secure the perimeter around the house, one suspect fled on foot, according to Capt. Scott Howe. He said police gave chase, but the suspect was not caught and is still at large along with a second suspect.
The two at-large suspects are described as in their early to mid-20s with dark clothing, police said. One of the suspects may have a black shirt with the word “ice” on it and one could still be armed with a handgun, police said.
By 1 a.m. Monday, police had closed off the surrounding streets and called in the Special Response Team.
They said one to two hours later, the Special Response Team forced entry into the basement and evacuated four additional victims. Seusing said of the four, three were juveniles and one was a male adult, and they were all sleeping upstairs when the break-in happened.
He added that this was not a hostage situation and there were no reported injuries.
Over the course of the morning, police said they made multiple attempts to communicate with the other two suspects believed to be hiding in the basement apartment.
No communication was ever established, Seusing said, even after officers sent in a police robot equipped with a camera and a loudspeaker.
At about 9:20 a.m., two loud flash-bang explosions were heard. Seusing said they were used outside the house to notify the suspects of the heavy police presence outside.
Over the next hour, 21 softer blasts broke the silent air. Many residents mistook the sounds for gunshots, but Seusing said they were only “diversionary devices,” including some tear gas grenades that were thrown into the basement apartment.
By 11 a.m., Seusing announced that one of the suspects was caught during a search by the Special Response Team, and he was taken into custody.
Police found a shotgun in the house, and by 4 p.m., detectives were on the way to execute a search warrant. Seusing said they would be looking for any other weapons in the home, anything that indicates a connection between any of the residents of the house and the suspects and other evidence.
That’s also when police finished the second of two “slow, methodical searches” of the residence and came up empty-handed. He said it was possible that the third suspect fled shortly after the break-in but wasn’t spotted leaving the area. He said it is possible that the two at-large suspects are still armed.
While most of the officers left the area, police were using some Nashua Fire Rescue imaging equipment to make a last-ditch search of the house, Seusing said.
Residents from nearby houses on Taft and Clement streets began to emerge after the explosions.
Ted LaBombard, who lives at 2 Taft St., said he was just getting ready for bed when he heard police cruisers and armored cars start arriving outside. He said with all the commotion, he didn’t get to sleep until nearly 5 a.m.
“It’s disconcerting,” he said. “This is a quiet neighborhood. Most of us have known each other for years, but we haven’t had much contact with that house (on 2 Morningside Drive).”
Other passers-by heard an early report on the news and walked over to see what was happening.
Tammy Clegg, 34, and Leslie Nelson, 31, are longtime residents of Nashua and said they were on their way to the beach but saw the report on the news and had to stop and check it out.
“It’s crazy,” Nelson said. “You hear about this stuff all over but not in Nashua.”
Angela Rodgers said she’s lived in Nashua all her life and was observing the scene because her 4-year-old son was at the Rivier Preschool nearby.
“I drive through this road every other day,” she said, indicating Taft Street, which was blocked off to civilians by police tape. “It’s always been quiet. Something like this always happens somewhere else.”
The scene was a media frenzy by midday, as representatives of WMUR Channel 9, Fox 25 News Boston, New England Cable News and the New Hampshire Union Leader were in Nashua for the standoff.
“It appears that it was not random,” Seusing said.
Seusing said the apparent motive was to steal a safe inside the basement. Seusing said he did not know what was inside the safe and that police detectives may or may not pursue a warrant to find out its contents.
He said there are lots of “nooks and crannies,” storage areas, stairwells and other places to hide in the large basement apartment, possibly even behind the walls, in ceiling crawl spaces, a chimney and duct work. Police even used power tools to gain access to a few areas, which is why the searches took so long, Seusing said.
By 6:30 p.m., the loudest thing in the residential neighborhood were chirping birds. A few cruisers and the Nashua Police Department Crime Scene truck were parked in front of the brown, low-slung ranch style house.
The house is surrounded by thick lines of trees and bushes that block it from neighbors on both sides. Police tape blocked off both ends of the house’s U-shaped driveway, which has a broken basketball hoop. A silver Toyota Corolla was parked in the driveway.
The yard behind the house drops away from the road and there is a deck, a wooden shed and an in-ground pool. The house is surrounded by a wooden fence. A chain link fence surrounds the pool area.
On Monday evening, Nashua detectives wearing bright white suits or white booties and rubber gloves were analyzing the scene. One made a circuit outside the house and the back and side yards with a video camera.
Alson is charged with burglary and robbery, both Class A felonies each punishable by up to 15 years. He is being held on $100,000 cash bail pending arraignment this morning in Nashua District Court.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Nashua Police Department at 594-3500 or the Crime Line at 589-1665.
Staff writer Joseph G. Cote and staff photographer Don Himsel contributed to this story.
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