Man goes berserks.. smashes front door… waves knife around… takes ride in a police car…
HYANNIS – Tonight we have your typical ‘HyTown man goes berserks, and smashes front door, while waiving a knife around’ story…
(… sorry, it was all I could find on such a slow and dreary night.)
Last night, police rushed to the Noah Shelter at 77 Winter Street for an out of control man who became violent.
The Noah Shelter, run by the Housing Assistance Corporation, has been an emergency-access homeless shelter for men and women since 1984.
It’s a 60-bed shelter which attempts to provide a safe place for people to sleep. It ordinarily operates at full capacity and has served the local homeless population well.
The thriving shelter is like the ballpark in the popular 1989 movie Field of Dreams…
“You build it, [they] will come…”
… and ‘come’ they have! The homeless and downtrodden flock to HyTown in droves. For decades, it has been an ongoing boon for those who provide services for the homeless in Hyannis… and there’s no end in sight.
The last thing people in the homeless industry need is violence, but unfortunately it’s part of their job. The homeless are not always peaceful and there are times when the staff at the shelter need to turn disruptive clients away. Sometimes things get ugly. Last night was one of those nights.
As police responded, they received a description of the man who had smashed the front door and brandished a knife. It took them just moments to catch up to the suspect a couple blocks away in the North Street parking lot behind Alberto’s Ristorante.
The man was quickly taken into custody and transported to BPD Headquarters for booking.
According to sources, Joseph Gilliken, age 52, is a homeless man who has been floating around Hyannis for years. Last night there was some type of fight at the shelter and Gilliken didn’t like it. As staff tried to calm things down, Gilliken started shooting off his mouth. He reportedly made comments about stabbing someone with his knife and that’s when shelter staff decided to have him leave for the night.
Gilliken didn’t like being kicked out, came back, and hurled a piece of fencing through the shelter’s front door.
Nobody was physically hurt from Gilliken’s enraged outburst, but he was charged with Injury to Real and Personal Property for allegedly smashing the shelter’s front door.
Either way, Gilliken is out of the rain tonight, with peace temporarily restored to the shelter’s homeless just trying to find rest.
In the back of the squad car, while being transported to jail, Gilliken could be heard screaming, “I’m trying to save people here!”
10/17/2014
Robert Bastille,
P.S. – Tonight's HyTown Vignette is brought to you by the official Nightcrawler movie soundtrack/theme... to be released October 31, 2014 in a theater near you. Stay tuned... [… and blast it!]
