Police arrested a Hancock man Thursday after he allegedly had a gun inside Monadnock Community Hospital.

According to a statement from Peterborough Police Chief Scott Guinard on the department’s Facebook page, at approximately 1 p.m. on Feb. 9, the department received a report of a man with a handgun inside the hospital. Peterborough officers Jesse Byam and Matthew Stone arrived and located the man, identified as 28-year-old Gabriel A. Sawich of Hancock, in a waiting room. According to Guinard, when officers confronted Sawich, he allegedly had his hand on the gun, began yelling at the officers and refused to let go or surrender the firearm.

During the struggle to disarm Sawich, Guinard stated that one of the officers used a Taser. Sawich was arrested and taken to the emergency room for a medical evaluation, which Guinard called standard practice after a Taser deployment.

Sawich was charged with reckless conduct with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest. He was released on personal recognizance and is scheduled to appear in the 8th Circuit – District Division – Jaffrey Court on Feb. 28. On Monday morning, Guinard said Sawich is receiving necessary care.

No shots were fired, and the incident was over in just under and hour, according to Guinard, who said he was happy the situation was resolved so quickly with no injuries.

"[The responding officers] showed great restraint when it came to the use of force, all while demonstrating compassion while responding to an individual in crisis,” Guinard said.

Laura Gingras, MCH vice president of philanthropy and community relations, provided a statement on the incident, which read, “The safety of our staff and patients is our highest priority. The Peterborough Police responded to a situation on our campus on  Thursday afternoon. The situation was very quickly de-escalated, and no one was injured. We remain committed to the ongoing safety of everyone on our campus. We are thankful to all of our staff for their response to the incident and for the quick response from our security team and the police.”

Bill Fonda contributed to this story.

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