A man wearing a gas mask was filmed as he stormed a courthouse, pepper-sprayed officers and randomly attacked onlookers. Nicholas Akerberg, 28, barged his way into Woburn District Court in the suburb of Boston, in the United States, dressed in black with his face covered by the gas mask and sunglasses.
An officer attempted to stop him from getting past the front door but he managed to enter while pepper-spraying her. The video then shows the intruder, wearing tactical gear, run through a metal detector amid chaotic scenes in the courthouse with people terrified at what was taking place.
It is understood that he also punched and pushed past several bystanders as officers tried to stop him and bring him under control.
In the end it required six officers to finally stop him and bring him under control. The footage shows the courthouse security managing to hold him by a bench and then wrestle him to the ground.
Akerberg was found to have eight canisters of pepper spray on hom as well as two more smoke canisters, according to the Middlesex district attorney’s office.
Police also said that he was taken to Bridgewater State Hospital where he has been receiving a mental health evaluation after the incident that took place last Monday. Akerberg punched, shoved and assaulted multiple people before several officers subdued him, the attorney’s office said.
He was charged with six counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and several other charges. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was ordered to be held pending a dangerousness hearing. Akerberg’s bail was also revoked in several open Woburn District Court cases, and he was ordered to undergo a competency evaluation. He is due back in court May 2.
In a statement, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms.”
“The rule of law is not a fancy academic concept, it is the foundation of our democracy,” Ms Ryan said. “Anyone who desecrates these sacred places will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Court records indicate Akerberg’s pending Woburn cases include at least two alleged incidents involving pepper spray, and his charges span assault and battery, assault with a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery on a police officer, among other counts.
Documents filed in those cases also indicate Akerberg has a long history of mental illness and is well known to police in the area of Boston where he previously lived.
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