WINTHROP — A more than four-hour standoff involving a Winthrop man that prompted a lockout at a local school ended Monday afternoon in an apparent suicide, a police official confirmed.

The deceased was identified as Ronald Tripp, 49, Winthrop police Capt. Ryan Frost said in an update early Monday evening.

Although the death remained under investigation by the state medical examiner’s office, Frost said that it appeared that Tripp died as the result of a single gunshot wound.

The series of incidents that preceded the death began about 8 a.m., when a woman living at 37 Spruce St. came into the Winthrop Police Station to report a domestic disturbance, Frost said.

Frost said that Tripp allegedly threatened an officer who went to Spruce Street to investigate, and otherwise refused to cooperate. Winthrop police then called in Maine State Police negotiating and tactical teams.

Attempts to get Tripp to calm down and come out were not successful, Frost said.

“He wasn’t having any of that,” Frost said. “He came out several times and yelled at officers.”

Shortly after 10:30 a.m., police heard a single gunshot, Frost said.

After obtaining arrest warrant based on probable cause for criminal threatening and terrorizing charges, as well as a search warrant, police entered Tripp’s home about 2:45 p.m. and found him deceased, Frost said.

The incident’s proximity to the local middle school prompted school officials to put the school into lockout mode as a safety measure, Superintendent Gary Rosenthal.

Students were not sent home, Rosenthal said. He said a lockout involves allowing restricted entry into a school building, as opposed to a lockdown, during which everybody’s movement is restricted.

BDN writer Ryan McLaughlin contributed to this report.

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