A military-style vehicle, marked as Haverhill Police, appears in front of a South Em Street home. (WHAV News photograph.)
Front view of Navistar International truck deployed by Haverhill Police. (WHAV News photograph.)
Residents of a Bradford home escaped injuries last night after suspected gang members fired bullets during a drive-by assault on the residence.
Bullets penetrated the second floor living area of the home at 136 South Elm St., as evidenced by damage to the building. Police were called to the scene just after 9 p.m., after receiving multiple 911 calls, said Detective Lt. Robert P. Pistone.
“Witnesses stated a male party fled toward South Pleasant Street after reporting he fired multiple shots into the dwelling,” he said. Police launched an investigation and are working to identify and arrest the suspect.
The incident marked the first known appearance of a surplus military truck used by Haverhill police. The white Navistar International truck, labeled as a “video surveillance unit” and carrying the Haverhill Police name, was parked overnight the scene. Photographs at WHAV.net.
Although not a suspect in the shooting, Haverhill Police arrested a 20-year-old Rockport man near the scene on theft and firearms charges. Austin Cavanaugh, of Rockport, was arrested and charged with receiving stolen property, two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm and one count of unlicensed possession of ammunition. Pistone explained police on the scene observed Cavanaugh acting suspiciously, walking from the area with dark backpack. Officers found Cavanaugh in possession of two pistols and box of ammunition. One of the weapons is believed to be stolen, Pistone said.
This is a developing story.
Our Police Force performs extremely well in all types of situations. The particular vehicle used in responding to this type of criminal situation seems proper and justified. We must continue to protect the public as well as the men and women of law enforcement. There have been a rash of incidents throughout our glorious country where police officers have been slain in the line of duty. Every possible step must continue to be taken to protect our city, its residents and police and fire officials. I applaud HPD for their ongoing efforts in protecting us and enforcing the law
Joe, I’m a big fan of the HPD…I know many of them and they’re all good, decent people….and they’ve do an extremely difficult and dangerous job. But the truth is they’re not always doing their job. The vast majority of crimes being committed in Haverhill is a direct result of criminal illegal trespassers from other countries living and coming to the city to commit the crimes they do. Many of these criminals are known by the HPD prior to being arrested for having committed a crime. But they have been instructed by a self-proclaimed ‘proud’ liberal mayor who advocates for Haverhill being a Sanctuary City. The second these people step foot in this country they are criminals. In Haverhill, the mayor completely ignores this fact and instructs the HPD to do the same.
Joe, advocating for these criminal trespassers in the City of Haverhill has gotten so bad that City Councilor Andy Vargas has even assisted one of them in participating in a public meeting by translating comments by that person from Spanish to English. Think about that for a second Joe….Vargas helped a “criminal” trespasser in this country to participate in a public forum for which that person had absolutely no rights to do…nevermind being in the country illegally in the first place. When public officials refuse to obey the rule of law, a state of anarchy results. If you’ve seen the headlines relating to the crimes in Haverhill just from the last month you’ll see it playing out right before our eyes.
And Joe, it’s only going to get worse !
SOCOM was spending almost $300,000 per year, per vehicle in maintenance (Source: Naval Postgraduate School) . To receive the vehicle, the town must demonstrate that they can pay maintenance costs of $150,000 to $200,000 per vehicle, per year.
In 2014, in Rick Dees column for Police One, he warned that MRAP vehicles present a high rollower risk. They also present an infrastructure risk, as they weigh between 18-24 tons, before personnel and equipment are added, which puts extra stress on many residential roads and bridges.
These vehicles are not “free”,
WHY DO WE CARE ABOUT THE TRUCK OR WHERE IT CAME FROM?!?! There was a shooting in a residential neighborhood and you care about where the police get their resources from???
WHY? This is not needed and just the militarization of our society…..really? Violent crime is down and I think back 30 years to the beat cops being friends on a first name basis to the residents of Haverhill.
Why does a surveillance truck need to be an armor assault vehicle? Please call it what it is force protection. The title is just plain insulting.
This military truck is the kind of toy mayor taxman can buy with the $3.5Million that he is stealing from taxpayers EVERY year. He ended fiscal year 2013 with a budget surplus and never removed the line item expenditures in the following budget years. As a result, he’s now got $14MILLION in hiding. Items like this “just show up” and not one city councilor will ask any questions on where the money came from to purchase it….amazing!
More outrageous is the silence from the mayor on why this truck is needed in the first place. Every week…almost every day…we are now seeing what an extremely dangerous place the City of Haverhill has become. Young women are dragged into the woods and raped by trespassing criminals in this country illegally, and illegals from other countries flock to Haverhill to sell drugs, This drive by incident is now the second high profile gang related shooting in the city, along with the Swazey Field shooting. The really scary aspect of the very dangerous crimes occurring in the city is that these are just the ones that are being reported. There are many incidents happening that are never made public. The mayor needs to keep the crimes quiet because they are a direct result of the out of control liberal policies he promotes. Through his actions the mayor has unofficially promoted Haverhill as a Sanctuary City. The word is out on the street for criminal trespassers in this country illegally, drug dealers and gang members…come to Haverhill…the mayor will welcome you with open arms!
Then we see multiple stories of why businesses won’t locate in Haverhill. It’s complete insanity.
The truck was free and if you were paying attention, we talked about this before in the original story if I remember right. Part of a surplus program by the Feds. Now it can be used as a live time surveillance vehicle to keep an eye within an area of concern. It is just another tool to be used.
First off, the truck was free to the city, essentially a gift from the government – unless you want to argue that it was paid for through the military budget by every taxpayer in the US.
Secondly, If the mayor had 14 million in ‘hiding’, then no one would know about it -not even you.
Third, if you really think Haverhill is that damgerous of a town and is only going to get worse, feel free to leave. We certainly don’t need anyone with your attitude.
If surface to air missles were free should the Haverhill police have them too?
Do we have some verifiable and postable story proving this vehicle was ‘free’? I’d just like to see it not arguing.
And Haverhill IS getting more dangerous – that is a fact. I don’t think the ‘right attitude’ is to tell someone to leave because you don’t like the facts, all that does is show YOUR attitude is terrible.
If you care for your city you try to help us all become safer and move forward together – not tell people to leave.