A three-day manhunt for a Franklin man ended early Saturday after a “tense standoff” in Concord, when more than 20 law enforcement officers and two armored BearCat vehicles surrounded a house off Manchester Street and used tear gas to force the suspect out, police said.
Ryan Brouillard, 33, surrendered at 4:30 a.m., according to Franklin police Chief David Goldstein. “This was a biggie, quite frankly,” he said. Brouillard faces a number of charges including at least three felonies.
Police had been searching for him since early Wednesday, when they responded to a domestic altercation in the Prospect Street area. Brouillard allegedly fired a gun before fleeing on foot.
Acting on information from the U.S. Marshals Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who aided in the manhunt, police began to move in on the Concord house late Friday night, Goldstein said. The effort also included help from the New Hampshire State Police SWAT Unit, Concord police and others, he said. Brouillard allegedly barricaded himself in the house, before the police deployed tear gas inside. He was taken into custody shortly after.
Though Franklin police had warned residents Brouillard was “armed and dangerous,” it’s not clear whether he was carrying a weapon when he was apprehended. Goldstein said there was a gun in his “vicinity.”
Police did not release the exact address off Manchester Street where he was located, or say whether anyone else was in the home. They also did not explain why Brouillard was there. The Concord Police Department directed all questions to Goldstein.
A man in the neighborhood, who declined to be named, identified a home on an unnamed cul-de-sac off Manchester Street, across from Concord Nissan, as the location of the arrest. On Saturday afternoon, the glass in the building’s front window was partially broken and two people wearing dust masks stood outside.
The sound of a helicopter circling overhead early Saturday morning awoke Mike Tierney, who lives in a neighboring development at 192 Manchester St. He said he walked outside about 3 a.m. to see blue flashing lights and a police car blocking Manchester Street.
The arrest brings to an end a major law enforcement effort that included assistance from the FBI, state law enforcement and several area police departments, including Boscawen, Bristol, Alexandria and Danbury.
Few details have been released about the initial incident, though Golstein said no one was injured by the gunshot.
At the time, an active warrant had been out for Brouillard for violating parole and being a habitual offender of motor vehicle laws.
As the search for Brouillard began, Franklin police blocked off multiple city streets and urged residents in the area to remain indoors. The state’s K-9 unit picked up a scent, but lost the trail by Wednesday night, Goldstein said. It’s not clear where Brouillard went in the days following, before he ended up in Concord.
Brouillard faces charges for being a felon in possession of a firearm, reckless conduct, criminal threatening, resisting arrest and parole violation. Other charges may be forthcoming, according to the Franklin police. Brouillard is expected to be arraigned Tuesday morning in Franklin Circuit Court.
(Allie Morris can be reached at 369-3307 or amorris@cmonitor.com.)