MEXICO – An armed Mexico man surrendered at police gunpoint Monday night after he repeatedly threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend, Mexico Patrolman Jeffrey Stoddard said.
As of 9 p.m., Barry E. Lamarre, 41, of 89 River Road, which is also known as Route 2, was charged with violating conditions of release and terrorizing.
More charges could be added, Stoddard said while waiting for doctors to examine Lamarre in the emergency room at Rumford Hospital. The prisoner had complained of neck pain.
The drama began about 1 p.m. when an Oxford County dispatcher in Paris sent police to Wal-Mart in Mexico after the former girlfriend called from inside the store, saying Lamarre was armed with a pistol and waiting for her to exit, Stoddard said.
According to interviews by Mexico Police Chief Jim Theriault and Stoddard, Lamarre had driven a friend to the store to pick up a prescription.
Stoddard said Lamarre parked in a handicap spot in front of the store.
While waiting for the friend to return, Stoddard said, another mutual friend of both Lamarre and his former girlfriend stopped to talk with Lamarre, who had a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol with him.
“It was unloaded, but he had two clips with him and one clip had hollow-point bullets in it. Hollow points are no joke. They are designed to do more damage, because, when fired, the bullet mushrooms and does a lot of internal damage,” Stoddard said.
“Barry said he was there to try out his new toy, and showed the gun to the friend,” he added.
Lamarre was then asked, by the friend, if he was there because his former girlfriend was in the store, to which, he allegedly replied, “Yes,” Stoddard said.
The friend then entered the store and told the woman that Lamarre was in the parking lot with a gun, Theriault said.
They remained in the store until Theriault, Stoddard and Rumford Police Chief Timothy Bourassa and Rumford Detective Sgt. George Cayer arrived.
“We got him out of the vehicle and got the firearm and put him in a cruiser until we could determine what was going on,” Stoddard said.
Stoddard then arrested Lamarre on a charge of terrorizing. At the Mexico police station, Lamarre “put his house up,” bonding it to meet bail of $10,000 worth of real estate.
Earlier this year, Mexico officials had tried to condemn the house, Theriault said.
Lamarre was then released, on conditions that he have no contact with his former girlfriend or the woman’s boyfriend. Police kept the gun.
“Within 10 to 15 minutes of bailing out, he made several phone calls to her Peru residence threatening to go there and kill them,” Stoddard said.
Rumford Sgt. Tracey Higley went to the former girlfriend’s house in case Lamarre went there.
Stoddard, Mexico Officer Dean Benson, and Oxford County Deputy Justin Brown went to Lamarre’s house after a second emergency call came in that Lamarre was throwing debris onto Route 2, and was said to have a gun on him.
“I went to the (former girlfriend’s) residence and he was on the phone, so I tried to keep him on the phone,” Higley said Monday night.
Higley then relayed information about guns in the Lamarre house to police.
At 6:40 p.m., Mexico firefighters were called to shut down Route 2 and divert traffic from the area. Med-Care Ambulance was also called to the scene but told to station an ambulance at a nearby business in response to a man out of control.
Stoddard, Benson and Brown went to Lamarre’s house, and told him to come out without a weapon and walk down his two levels of stairs to the road.
“We lit him up with a spotlight and we were hollering instructions for what to do. We had our guns out and we ordered him to walk toward us,” Stoddard said.
When Lamarre complied, he was ordered to lay on the ground, and police handcuffed him.
During this tense time, James Dolloff had run the firefighters’ roadblock at Memorial Bridge and ran onto the scene, Stoddard said.
“He showed up at the most volatile time, when things were getting all crazy with Lamarre,” he added.
Dolloff was arrested and charged with obstructing government administration. Further details were not available.
while being taken to Oxford County Jail in Paris, Lamarre complained of neck pain, so Med-Care ambulance responded and took him to Rumford Hospital.
“He is trying to blame that on us, but earlier, at the police station, he told me he had a pre-existing neck injury and was going to have surgery,” Stoddard said.
At Lamarre’s house, police were busy gathering several firearms, swords and “a whole gaggle of knives that he’s been collecting for years,” Stoddard said.
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