Police arrest armed man in Acropolis

An armed man in distress was detained Friday early morning in Nicosia after a 12-hour long standoff with police in a quiet neighbourhood in Acropolis.

According to Politis, a 62-year-old local male was arrested on Friday morning when he answered the door around 2:30am. Police transported the man to hospital where he was expected to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. 

A court order for involuntary mental health treatment had been pending, with unconfirmed reports saying this was the reason he became stressed. The suspect reportedly had been dealing with mental issues and attempted at least twice to engage with people in incoherent conversations in the last few days.

A few days ago, according to local media, he was arrested when police were called at a local bank. The man was said to have been verbally abusive to bank employees. He was charged with disorderly conduct and later released.

A source told Knews the man invited another person a few days ago to have a conversation, which was described as incoherent with the suspect being persistent about an issue and also mentioning his gun, which made the other person uncomfortable.

On Thursday, a local female called the police to report that the suspect was holding a gun and had threatened to shoot her and her husband.

When police rushed to the scene around 3pm, the man became distressed and barricaded himself in the apartment, coming out on the balcony at times to ask officers to leave him alone.

He later told police he was going to bed with officers staying outside the residence on standby, until Friday early morning around 2:30am when the suspect reportedly opened the door and let the officers in.

About a dozen guns described as hunting rifles were found in his apartment, according to media reports.