PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Following an overnight manhunt, police on Tuesday morning arrested a suspect in an alleged stabbing at Presque Isle’s homeless shelter.
Daniel Bertrand, 65 of Nashua, New Hampshire, was arrested around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday morning on State Road and has been charged with aggravated assault, according to Presque Isle police detective Kris Beck. Bertrand is being held on $50,000 bail, Beck said.
Around 7:15 p.m. Monday night, Bertrand allegedly attacked an employee of the Sister Mary O’Donnell Homeless Shelter with mace and “an edged weapon,” Beck said. The detective said the specific weapon used was not known yet. No weapon was recovered during the arrest and Bertrand has declined to discuss the incident with police, Beck said.
The shelter staff member was taken to The Aroostook Medical Center, treated for non-life threatening injuries and released, according to the police.
The attack was captured on surveillance cameras inside the shelter, the detective said.
Multiple law enforcement agencies subsequently launched a manhunt Monday night for Bertrand that stretched into Tuesday morning, when he was apprehended.
Beck said that after a tip from members of the public, police found Bertrand on State Road near the intersection with Skyway Street. Bertrand was arrested without incident and was not carrying any weapons, Beck said.
Before Bertrand was arrested Tuesday morning, Northern Maine Community College officials closed the campus “due to an abundance of caution,” according to a press release.
The Sister Mary O’Donnell Homeless Shelter is located in Presque Isle’s Skyway Industrial Park, along with multiple businesses, the Northern Maine Regional Airport, NMCC and the Presque Isle Middle School.
The middle school remained opened, but school officials were taking extra precautions and said that all doors to the school are locked except for the front entrance at the beginning and end of the day.
