Video shows man in gas mask and tactical gear pepper-spray officers at Boston area courthouse
A man wearing a gas mask and tactical gear forced his way into a Boston-area courthouse on Monday and allegedly pepper-sprayed and physically assaulted several people before he was arrested.
Security video shows a female court officer trying to stop the man from entering the Woburn District Court. The man, identified by the district attorney's office as Nicholas Akerberg, is seen storming inside and appearing to pepper-spray the officer.
He then runs into the lobby where several officers subdue him, the video shows.
Bystanders are seen in the video moving out of the way as the officers struggle to restrain Akerberg. The officers had to deploy a Taser before he was arrested, the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office said in a news release.
Akerberg, 28, of Yarmouth Port, was dressed in a helmet, gas mask, tactical boots and sunglasses, the district attorney's office said. He had eight canisters of pepper spray and two smoke canisters in his possession, the release states.
Akerberg allegedly "deployed pepper spray directed at multiple court officers, a Stoneham police officer and an assistant district attorney," according to the release. He is also accused of punching and shoving multiple people.
"I want to condemn today's attack on the Court, the Court staff and the Justice system in the strongest possible terms. Courts are sacred, hallowed places," District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a statement.
Akerberg was charged with six counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, as well as charges of assault and battery on a public employee, assault and battery on a police officer, disrupting a court proceeding, disorderly conduct, bomb threat, and intimidation.
Akerberg, a police officer and two court officers were taken to the hospital but were all released, the district attorney's office said.
Akerberg was arraigned on Monday and was ordered held pending a dangerousness hearing. The judge also revoked his bail and ordered him to undergo a competency evaluation. It's not clear if he has obtained an attorney.
The district attorney said Monday's assault is the third serious incident at a courthouse since March 10.
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