GROTON, Conn. — A threat made Sunday morning escalated to a suspect saying he would kill a man, his wife and family, police said. The suspect was arrested and held him on $275,000 bond.
Jonathan Jean-Pierre called police from the Baymont Inn, 360 Route 12, Groton, at 7:14 a.m. to ask for assistance in getting into his room. While police were enroute to the initial call, they said Groton Emergency Dispatch began receiving additional 911 calls from other hotel patrons reporting the previous caller, later identified as Jean-Pierre, had displayed a knife and made verbal threats to “kill everyone.”
Due to the heightened nature of the call, all available officers from the department’s patrol shift responded to the hotel. The first two arriving officers located Jean-Pierre in front of the Baymont Hotel with a knife in his hand. Officers gave Jean Pierre multiple commands to drop the knife, but he refused, continuing to walk towards Route 12.
After continuing to refuse officers’ commands, police said an officer deployed his assigned taser at Jean Pierre, striking and immediately incapacitating him. They removed a folding multi-tool/knife from Jean-Pierre when he was taken into custody.
Jean-Pierre was evaluated and treated at the scene by members of Groton Ambulance. He was found to have no injuries and taken to police headquarters for processing.
During the investigation, police said they learned from multiple witnesses that Jean-Pierre became angry about not being able to access a room which the hotel staff had not yet prepared for occupancy. He then began yelling profanities at hotel staff who were within sight and sound of numerous members of a youth marching band who were eating breakfast nearby.
The band members, which consisted of youths and adults ranging in ages from 13 to 21, were in the area for competition. One of the parents associated with the group approached Jean Pierre and asked him to quiet down since there were so many children in the area. Jean-Pierre pulled out what the parent perceived to be a butterfly-type knife and held it to the victim’s throat, making several disturbing comments and indicating his intent to murder the victim, his wife, and children, who were all present at the time.
Hotel staff were able to intervene and get Jean-Pierre outside prior to the arrival of police where he continued to display the knife and yell disturbing statements until police arrived.
None of the victims involved in this incident were injured, police said.
Jean-Pierre was transported to Groton Police Headquarters where he was processed and held on a $275,000 in New London on Monday, April 29.
The knife/multi-tool held by Jean-Pierre during this incident was seized as evidence and transported to Groton Police Headquarters.
Doug Stewart is a Senior Digital Content Producer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dstewart@fox61.com.
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