Hicksville man apprehended after holding 2 people in home, standoff with police
Nassau County police at scene of a standoff with a barricaded man on Ohio Street in Hicksville Saturday. Credit: John Scalesi
A Hicksville man with a long prison record assaulted a man and woman inside a Hicksville home and threatened them at knifepoint Saturday before barricading himself inside the residence for several hours, Nassau police said.
John Howell, 40, refused to allow responding officers into the home shortly after 10:20 a.m. and would not permit the 56-year-old female occupant to leave, police said in a news release. The 44-year-old male occupant managed to escape the home and call police, police said.
During the standoff, the woman escaped the house after communicating with the Nassau County Police Hostage Negotiation Team, police said. Special Operations officers then made their way inside the home, finding Howell hiding in an attic, police said.
The male occupant who escaped the home was treated for an undisclosed injury at a hospital, police said. The woman refused medical attention and no other injuries were reported, according to police.
Nassau police declined to say how Howell knew the two individuals.
Howell was charged with two counts of third-degree assault, two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, two counts of second-degree menacing and first-degree unlawful imprisonment, police said. He was taken to a hospital for evaluation and was released into police custody, according to the news release.
Howell was expected to be arraigned at First District Court in Hempstead Sunday.
State prison records show Howell served nearly six years in prison for prior assault and drug convictions. One year after being released from Mid-State Correctional Facility in upstate Marcy following a second-degree assault conviction, Howell was convicted of fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and for violating his parole in 2018. He was released from the upstate maximum security Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining in 2021 and his post-release supervision expired one month ago, prison records show.
Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.
