Police and sheriff’s deputies peacefully resolved a five-hour standoff Thursday involving a father and son at a motel in Bridgton.
They arrested John A. Connolly, 53, and his son, John Siciliani, 30, who holed up in a room at the First and Last Motel on Portland Road, part of Route 302. Traffic was detoured off the busy road during the incident.
Siciliani was involved in an alleged assault Wednesday night. An arrest warrant cited two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, and police went to the motel Thursday to arrest him after a resident reported that Siciliani was on the property.
A tactical team from the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office takes position at the First and Last Motel in Bridgton during Thursday’s standoff. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer
Siciliani, who is known to Bridgton police, retreated into one of the rooms with his father.
The two refused to submit to arrest, communicating on and off with deputies first through the closed door and then through other means, said Bridgton Police Chief Rick Stillman.
“They didn’t think they had done anything wrong,” Stillman said.
At a nearby gas station, people record videos and watch as the situation unfolds at the First and Last Motel in Bridgton on Thursday. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer
Connolly is the son of Jo-Anne Connolly, who is listed in town property records as the motel’s owner.
For several hours Thursday, teams of sheriff’s deputies in tactical gear were positioned behind two armored vehicles, along with police cars from multiple towns that surrounded the motel. A tactical team from the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office entered the woods behind the building at one point.
Police would not say whether either man was armed.
An employee from Central Maine Power Co. who arrived just after 4:30 p.m., said police asked him to cut power to the motel.
The men gave themselves up minutes after the power was turned off on that stretch of Portland Road, which reopened around 5 p.m.
A tactical team from the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office waits outside the First and Last Motel in Bridgton during Thursday’s standoff. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer
Police were still searching the scene at 5:30 p.m. and had not finalized possible charges for the father or son for their roles in the standoff.
Razel Gavin, 18, of Poland said he was visiting the motel Wednesday night when Siciliani began to argue with him as Gavin searched for a missing family dog behind the complex.
Gavin said that he knew the man only as “John Jr.,” and that he appeared intoxicated, unsteady on his feet and slurring his speech.
Siciliani called Gavin, who is black, racial slurs, Gavin said. The altercation became physical when Siciliani emerged from his apartment with a 2-by-4 and swung it at Gavin before retreating and returning with a rifle, Gavin said.
Gavin called police, and Siciliani apparently fled. Officers took a report, and told Gavin and his family to call police if Siciliani returned.
Steven Anderson, 31, said he lived at the motel for about a year until November, and has done property maintenance for the owners, including snowplowing in the winter.
Anderson said the father and son had frequent arguments, and at one point the parents had asked their son to leave, but allowed him back to live at the property.
“I’m really hoping they get out of this alive,” Anderson said during the standoff. “It’s more sad than anything else.”
Connolly has a criminal record in Maine dating to 1982, involving mostly misdemeanor charges of criminal mischief, theft and assault. He has one felony conviction, in October 1990, for tampering with a witness, for which he served one year in prison and one year probation.
It was not clear Thursday whether Siciliani has a criminal record in Maine.
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CORRECTION: This story was updated at 5:21 p.m. on June 6, 2016, to correct the relationship between John A. and Jo-Anne Connolly.
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