Man with explosives, ammunition arrested in Chinatown, police say

A man who had recently been in a standoff with police in Pennsylvania was arrested Friday evening in Chinatown with ammunition, explosives, and a large spear, according to a Boston police report.

The man, whose name Boston police redacted, was held on a mental-health commitment and will be summonsed to court on charges of illegal possession of explosives, a large capacity ammunition feeding device, and a knife.

The police investigation closed down streets in the area Friday evening, but no one was injured, police said.

According to the police report, officers spotted the subject of a “Be On Look Out” notice — a BOLO — sitting in a white Toyota Tacoma pickup truck at the corner of Beach Street and Surface Road, which is near the Chinatown

Gate, around 7 p.m. The details of the BOLO were not available on Saturday, but the report said the man had been in a standoff with police in Pennsylvania in the past few weeks and that he was the subject of a request for an involuntary mentalhealth commitment, which is done when someone is believed to be a danger to themselves or others.

Officers noted that the interior of the car and the bed of the pickup were “filled to the brim with random items such as blankets & broken furniture,” the report states. The officers called in backup, but, as they waited, they saw the man leave the truck and start “rummaging through the front passenger side seat,” the report states.

Based on information from the BOLO, police worried he was going to get a weapon, they wrote, and, “officers believed that there was an imminent danger to the safety of officers and the public.”

The officers approached and saw the man had various weapons including a “large spear,” a knife, and bow and arrows inside of the truck, the report said. Officers read the man his rights and searched the truck, finding ammunition for a firearm, they wrote.

The man told them he had fireworks and dynamite in the truck, officers wrote. But after a search that included shutting down surrounding streets and bringing in a police dog, officers did not find any, they wrote.

The man was taken to the hospital for a mental-health evaluation. He told authorities he’d recently been held elsewhere for mental-health reasons.