Niles Twp. Man Arrested After Second Standoff With Police

police564-69
police564-69

A 21-year-old Niles Township man is in the Berrien County Jail after an assault Friday that resulted in Merritt Elementary School being locked down. Police surrounded the suspect’s home in the 16-hundred block of Florence Avenue, only to find he had escaped by the time they burst inside. The man got into another disturbance at the home Sunday afternoon and the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department responded a second time to a report the man had barricaded himself inside the home. This time, he was still there when deputies arrived and they negotiated his surrender after a second standoff. He will be charged with assault, unlawful imprisonment, interfering with communications, and possession of a controlled substance when he makes his first court appearance, but that has not yet been set.