ASHLAND — Police requested the Ashland District School be placed on lockdown Feb. 24, after a local woman, who’d reportedly applied for a job at the school, was involved in a domestic incident.
“She’d initially been involved in an incident at the school on Monday. Tuesday bright and early a complaint came in. The person was insistent she thought she killed a man. Police responded to a Masardis residence on the assumption that something serious happened,” said Chief Cyr Martin, of the Ashland Police Department.
Martin said upon arrival at the residence, he and Trooper Chuck Michaud were able to “straighten everything out.”
“We’d received a complaint the woman was trying to do bodily injury to the person she was living with. Our investigation started with that complaint. He denied anything occurred but was very frightened of her,” said Martin.
Martin said the woman was not home when he arrived.
“She wasn’t there. We were told she was on her way to the school. It was then we advised school officials to put the facility on lockdown and not let her in if she showed up there. The woman was subsequently stopped on the Presque Isle Road,” Martin said.
Sgt. Jared Carney, of the APD, and Trooper Michaud spoke to the woman, setting guidelines for her to not go to certain places, including the school.
“After we were assured she was not going to the school, we took the school off lockdown,” said Martin.
Martin said the woman, whose name is not being released because no charges were brought, has a history of mental issues.
“She’s been an issue in town for some time now — not rational at all, paranoid. I’ve tried to find ways to address the needs of people like that before but there’s nothing readily available. Our hands are tied. Unless an arrest is made, people like this are left for the public to deal with,” said Martin.
