Justin Moreira
May 29, 2022 Barnstable Police/CWN
HYANNIS – Multiple gunshots were fired at a scene of a standoff in Hyannis Wednesday morning. No injuries have been reported. For safety reasons CWN is not reporting the actual incident location at this time but Barnstable Police have used a reverse 911 call to alert people in the area to shelter in place. A Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit was on scene.
Barnstable Public Schools sent an email to parents advising that the Barnstable High School, Hyannis West Elementary School, Enoch Cobb Early Learning Center, Barnstable Community Innovation School and the Transportation/Facilities Office are in Shelter in Place/modified lockdown, meaning no one can enter or exit the buildings due to police activity in the Hyannis area. Officials stress there is no threat directed to any of the schools.
Update 7:30 PM: Barnstable Police report that at approximately 7:41 AM on Wednesday March 6th, 2024, the Barnstable Police was called to a home on St. Francis Circle in Hyannis regarding an individual holding a person at knife point. As patrol units responded, the caller advised dispatch that he and his mother were able to barricade themselves in another room in the residence, however, the armed suspect also remained somewhere unknown inside the home.
Barnstable Police Patrol officers arrived on scene and were able to safely evacuate the family out a window of the home. The officers also contained the suspect, 30-year-old Justin Moreira, inside the house. The family reported to the police that Moreira likely had access to firearms inside the house.
Initial attempts to have Moreira come out of the home were unsuccessful. Shortly thereafter, he began firing on the SWAT team’s ballistic vehicle with a firearm. Fortunately, the vehicle protected the SWAT team members inside, as bullets ricocheted off the side of the armored truck.
On scene negotiators and the police department’s mental health clinician tried to convince Moreira to come out of the home peacefully, but he refused and continued to periodically fire rifle and handgun rounds on perimeter scene SWAT officers surrounding the house.
Later in the standoff, the Massachusetts State Police deployed a robotic dog inside the home in a further attempt to locate and convince Moreira to come out of the home, but he shot the robot and partially disabled it.
Throughout the day, Moreira continued to fire bullets at the SWAT personnel containing him in the St. Francis Circle home.
After seven hours of continual negotiations, Moreira still refused to come out of his home. The SWAT Team then deployed a form of pepper spray into the home, but Moreira remained inside. Finally, a specialty ballistic vehicle with an attached demolition tool arrived on scene and was used to forcibly encourage Moreira to exit the residence. He was then taken into custody without injury by the SWAT Team.
Justin Moreira is currently being held at the Barnstable Police Department.
Moreira is charged with several counts of Attempted Murder, as well as additional firearm charges.
The Barnstable Police Departments thanks all the responding local police agencies, as well as the state police for their assistance in peacefully resolving this critical incident.
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In May 2022, Moreira was arrested for making threats to shoot up a school. CWN reported exclusively that Moreira had a prior federal conviction for purchasing a firearm and silencer off a Darknet market. Read the full investigative report here.
