Police have detailed the harrowing timeline of events after a man with a chainsaw went on a frightening, straight-out-of-a-horror-movie rampage in eastern Massachusetts on Sunday night.
It started when the 35-year-old suspect allegedly attempted to saw his way through a local police station–and ended with a SWAT team forcefully removing him from his home after he barricaded himself with his two young kids and dangled them out the window, cops said.
Chief William Quigley of the Cohasset Police Department confirmed Monday the suspect, indentified as Brien Buckley, was arrested after the lengthy stand-off and charged with numerous counts, including Assault by Means of a Dangerous Weapon (to Wit: a Chainsaw), Damage to Property (three counts), Child Endangerment (three counts), Resisting Arrest, Driving to Endanger, Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle, Disorderly Conduct, Disturbing the Peace and Wanton Destruction of a Tree.
Cohasset Police Department
Chief Quigley said that the events began at around 2:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon, when Buckley allegedly drove over the lawn of the police station, hitting a tree, then exited his pickup truck and entered the lobby of the building while “revving” a gas-powered chain saw.
Cohasset Police Officers received a “frantic call” from the civilian desk attendant alerting them to what was happening.
According to Boston 25, Quigley said Buckley had called the department “earlier in the day, and asked if officers would help babysit his children. When they declined, he returned hours later with a chainsaw.”
Cohasset Police Department
Buckley then allegedly “began to damage the lobby of the station with the saw and was chopping at the security door, attempting to gain entry into a restricted area where the attendant was,” Quigley said. After causing damage to the security door and mail packages, he fled the police station in the truck he arrived in, tracked by officers to his home on Cushing Road.
Buckley, spotting the officers from his home after additional units were dispatched, allegedly “began yelling” from the house and “dangled two small children in front of a second-story window.”
He refused to leave the house, and after “de-escalation attempts failed” a SWAT team and hostage negotiators from the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council were called to the scene.
Cohasset Police Department
Several hours went by and the suspect “became more erratic”. With an “increasingly clear and present danger to the children,” SWAT supervisors sought permission from Cohasset command staff to enter the home, police said.
Buckley was taken into custody after resisting arrest, with officers ultimately using a Taser to subdue him.
The children were quickly scooped up by officers and removed from the home. The girl and boy – both younger than five years old—were found together and unharmed, and reunited with their mother and grandfather after their ordeal.
Buckley was sent to an area hospital under police supervision, then to Cohasset police headquarters for booking. He is being held without bail.