EAST HARTFORD — A man who threatened to light himself on fire Wednesday night at a Winding Lane house prompted a standoff that lasted more than two hours.
The man, whose identity was not released Thursday morning, was being treated for burns after the standoff, which ended shortly after midnight, police said. He also was receiving a psychiatric evaluation, they said.
The man called police about 9:45 p.m. saying he was going to set himself on fire at midnight, police said. His girlfriend got out of the house, said Lt. Ricardo Soto.
He told police he had booby-trapped the house, Soto said, so they called the Hartford bomb squad in addition to the department’s SWAT team. The fire department was on standby.
As officers watched, he stood in the garage smoking cigarettes, with the door open, Soto said. He had a propane tank and a lighter, he said, and he had spilled some gasoline from a lawn mower, he said.
Officers grabbed him shortly after midnight, when he walked out into backyard, Soto said.
By Christine Dempsey and Cory Ziman, Hartford Courant