A man suspected of at least two local home invasion robberies is behind bars following a 5-1/2-hour standoff Thursday night at an east Medford apartment complex, according to a Friday press release from Medford police.
Police said Aynsley John Alexander Hand, 35, was a suspect in two Medford robberies that occurred Sept. 23 and Sept. 27, and one in Ashland.
On Sept. 23, Hand allegedly showed up at a home in the 600 block of Beatty Street armed with a handgun, threatened the home’s residents and demanded keys to a victim’s vehicle.
At about 5 a.m. Sept. 27, Hand allegedly stormed a home in the 2500 block of Ashwood Court, also armed with a handgun, and ordered a woman on the ground and demanded drugs or money, according to police. The victim in the Sept. 27 robbery told police the suspect threatened to kill her and everyone in the house.
Detectives are also investigating Hand as the suspect in an Ashland robbery that occurred within the last two weeks, according to Medford police Lt. Kerry Curtis. Police released no details about the Ashland robbery.
At 5 p.m. Thursday, police went to Hand’s apartment in the 2000 block of Brookhurst Street, and Hand barricaded himself inside.
Because of the nature of the crimes and because they believed Hand was armed with several handguns, and police called in their Special Weapons and Tactics team and crisis negotiators.
Police said they saw Hand with at least one gun through a window, and said Hand at times put the gun to his head. Negotiators tried to reach Hand by phone during the standoff, including throwing a phone onto his back patio, but they never got a line of communication and had to issue commands over a PA system.
Police eventually threw chemical agents through a window, and SWAT breached his front door using an explosive.
No injuries were reported in the standoff, but police called an ambulance early that evening when a 13-year-old suffered a seizure while talking to detectives.
Hand was taken into custody at 10:30 p.m.
Police arrested Hand on an unrelated domestic violence warrant, and charged him Friday with second-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, felon in possession of a firearm and fourth-degree assault. Police said they found two weapons inside Hand’s apartment matching those used in the Medford robberies.