LOWELL — A search warrant executed at a home on Lillian Terrace following Wednesday’s three-and-a half-hour standoff between a man inside the residence and members of the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council SWAT Team uncovered a loaded 9mm handgun, according to authorities.
The alleged discovery contributed to Judge Pacifico DeCapua Jr.’s decision during a 58A dangerousness hearing in Lowell District Court on Thursday to hold the man involved in the standoff, 38-year-old Jorge Sanchez Jr., without bail as his case progresses in court.
Sanchez is charged with violating an abuse prevention order for being inside the home at 28 Lillian Terrace, which set off the SWAT response in the otherwise sleepy neighborhood at about 8:10 a.m. Wednesday.
Due to the discovery of the firearm, which he claimed he did not possess, Sanchez now also faces several gun charges.
During Thursday’s hearing, Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Andrew Mange successfully argued to DeCapua that the incident on Lillian Terrace “is the exact type of situation which the 58A statute was designed to address.”
A 58A dangerousness hearing is used to determine whether a defendant poses too great a risk to the community to be released from custody.
“This is the kind of situation where the defendant has an escalating set of concerning behaviors, has access to a large capacity feeding device and a firearm to accompany it, and has placed his family in immediate fear,” Mange said.
The prosecutor revealed that Sanchez’s wife pursued a restraining order against Sanchez due to her fear of his increasingly erratic behavior that included alcohol and drug use.
The tipping point that led to the restraining order occurred when his wife saw Sanchez in possession of what she believed was a firearm inside the home. Referencing the restraining order during the hearing, Mange said Sanchez had allegedly asked his wife to speak with him alone inside a room while he had the alleged firearm.
Police served Sanchez with the order at the home on Lillian Terrace on Tuesday, at which time Sanchez was instructed by officers to leave the residence. Mange noted the order “clearly and unambiguously states” that he is ordered to leave and stay away from the home.
Despite those instructions, Sanchez returned to the home the following day while his wife was gone. Surveillance cameras picked up Sanchez’s presence inside the residence, and the Dracut Police were contacted.
Due to the possible presence of firearms inside the home, NEMLEC SWAT was contacted to assist at the scene. When law enforcement told Sanchez to exit the home, Mange said he refused.
“He not only refused,” Mange said, “he continued to refuse for three and a half hours of an escalating standoff with police, ultimately ending only when SWAT officers made entry into the home.”
Sanchez’s attorney, Larry Colby, told DeCapua that the prosecution’s proclaimed “escalating standoff,” as Mange called it, was Sanchez simply refusing to come out of the house.
“He doesn’t brandish a gun, he doesn’t brandish a knife, he’s not yelling threats,” Colby said. “He’s doing nothing but staying inside the house.”
Colby added when SWAT entered the home, Sanchez was taken into custody “without any struggle at all.”
Colby requested DeCapua allow Sanchez to be released from custody, on the grounds the defendant resides at his brother’s home in Lowell. As part of Sanchez’s potential release, Colby suggested he could wear a GPS tracking device, and be required to abide by a 24-hour lockdown with windows for work.
The defense attorney added “it appears (Sanchez) was becoming paranoid,” and suggested he needs mental health treatment.
“I know everyone is concerned because there is a gun here, but it’s not a gun he ever used in any aggressive way,” Colby said. “In the conversation with his wife that scared her, he had the gun, but there’s no allegations he was making threats.”
During Sanchez’s arraignment on Wednesday — a few hours after the standoff concluded — Colby said Sanchez had informed him there would be no gun found by police inside the home. At the time of the arraignment, the search warrant had not yet been executed.
Despite this claim, Mange said the 9mm Beretta 92FS that police discovered “behind a cabinet and a wall” in a bedroom was loaded with 14 rounds, including 13 rounds in a 15-round magazine, with the other round in the chamber.
Sanchez is not legally allowed to possess a handgun. He was convicted of a gun possession charge more than 20 years ago, when he was 17.
“It was not in his reach or grasp,” Colby said about the firearm. “There’s nothing to suggest he had it that day or intended in any way to use it. It was simply in the house.”
After hearing Mange’s presentation, and Colby’s rebuttal, DeCapua said the prosecution met their burden in proving Sanchez posed a threat to the community. As part of the ruling, Sanchez will remain behind bars for up to 120 days while the case progresses in court.
Due to the discovery of the firearm, Sanchez was also arraigned Thursday on the charges of possession of a firearm without a firearm identification card, possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card, possession of a large capacity feeding device, and improper storage of a large capacity feeding device near a minor.
Sanchez is scheduled to return to court for a probable cause hearing on May 13.
Sanchez told members of his family in the courtroom gallery, “I love you,” as he was led away by court officers.
Follow Aaron Curtis on X, formerly known as Twitter, @aselahcurtis
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