Man with crossbow, flare gun and bulletproof vest arrested after 911 calls in Meriden: Police – NBC Connecticut

Meriden police arrested a man they said was carrying a flare gun, a modified crossbow and a bulletproof vest while responding to several 911 calls about a suspicious man on Main Street in Meriden Wednesday evening.

People who called 911 just before 5 p.m. said they saw a man walking down the street wearing a bulletproof vest, carrying a rifle over his shoulder, a beer and a backpack.

Callers also said the man told people in a parking lot to “kill themselves” and that he was “waiting for the police,” police said.

Officers found the man walking in the middle of Hanover Avenue and stopped traffic to protect the public.

They asked him to keep his hands visible and to stop, but he ignored them and continued walking towards a more residential area, police said.

Officers arrested him and discovered that what appeared to be a rifle was actually a crossbow with a folding stock; the crossbow’s limbs had been removed.

In his backpack, police said, they found an Orange Orion flare gun with a modified 12-caliber cartridge inside that had been hollowed out and apparently repackaged with glass and other debris.

They said he had a similar flare gun on him when Wallingford police arrested him on May 28 and that he had a protective order prohibiting him from possessing firearms.

The suspect received medical treatment at the scene and was then charged with illegal possession of a firearm, carrying a dangerous weapon, violating a protection order, obstructing an officer and disturbing the peace. He was held on $500,000 bail for those charges.

For a warrant for second degree failure to appear, bail is $2,500, for a warrant for first degree failure to appear, bail is $150,000, and for a warrant for first degree failure to appear, bail is $25,000.