Report of barricaded man in Haywood St. home leads to two arrests

Two men are in custody after police responded to a call for a barricaded male in an East Falls home.

At about 10:15 a.m. this morning, 39th District police officers responded to a home on the 3600 block of Haywood St. after an initial report of a person with a gun. According to the original radio call, police said that a male was holding a female.

By the time of their arrival, the female was no longer being held by the male, but police reported seeing a gun pointed out the window. Subsequently, SWAT teams were dispatched to the two-story row home, and two males were arrested. Police would not identify the males, but said that no gun was recovered and no injuries were reported.Police officials on the scene suggested that the episode was the result of a quarrel among residents of the house.

Joe Brehony, a Haywood St. resident, was not aware of the cause of the police response, but was impressed by the size of it, and surprised by the appearance of the SWAT team on his small street, which gently curves from Krail St. to Indian Queen Ln., bordering the Rt. 1 expressway.

“When I saw seven police cars and a helicopter, I said, ‘Holy smokes!'” he recalled.

Other residents were equally surprised by the episode, and told NewsWorks that the home was a rooming house for patients with medical conditions, the caregivers for which were reported to have lively weekend parties matched in vigor to those of local college students living nearby.

Whatever the nature of the home’s occupants, residents were disquieted by any activity requiring police intervention on their small street.

“We don’t need this in this neighborhood, you know what I mean?” said one resident, who deferred identification.