An Amesbury man with ties to Haverhill was arrested after a standoff in Exeter, N.H., police said Thursday. Twenty-seven-year-old John Osborne was taken into custody on a warrant out of Amesbury for five alleged violent domestic felonies, including assault to murder, strangulation or suffocation, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and witness intimidation, among others.
Given the severity of the charges and circumstances, a tactical team—including a New Hampshire K-9 unit—was called in to execute the warrant on Alder Street in Exeter, that town’s police department said. Osborne surrendered after a brief negotiation and was arrested without incident.
Osborne remains held in Rockingham County Jail without bail as a fugitive from justice as he awaits arraignment.
Formerly of Haverhill, Osborne’s most recent brush with police comes four years after he was arrested on drug dealing and weapons charges by New Hampshire State Police. In April 2015, he was charged with being a felon in possession of a handgun and possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute and falsifying physical evidence when arrested during a Salem, N.H. traffic stop.
A search of the car yielded a loaded .357 magnum handgun under the front seat, a bag of marijuana, as well as ammunition, a scale and “items associated with drug packaging and use,” police said at the time.