WILD STANDOFF: Fleeing suspect backed car into armored SWAT...

UPDATE – 3/17/22: MORE ON YESTERDAY’S DRAMATIC STANDOFF IN YARMOUTH

[YARMOUTH PD MEDIA STATEMENT] On Wednesday March 16, 2022, at approximately 2:30pm the Yarmouth Police Department received a call reporting a disturbance on Lakefield Rd in South Yarmouth. Yarmouth Officers responded to the area and advised police dispatch that a male party later identified as Michael A. Giampapa was possibly armed with a gun and had barricaded himself inside a house and was refusing to come out and speak with officers.

Investigating Officers developed probable cause at the scene and an arrest warrant was secured through the Barnstable First District Court.

Additional resources were called including members of the Cape Cod Regional SWAT Team, numerous attempts were made through a Crisis Negotiator for Giampapa to exit the home and surrender to police, but Giampapa refused. On several occasions Giampapa stepped outside of the home armed with a knife yelling and confronting officers refusing to comply with their demands. As negotiations continued Giampapa exited the home and was able to get into his vehicle located in the driveway next to the side door. The SWAT team was able to position their armored vehicle behind Giampapa’s Sedan preventing him from back out and fleeing. Giampapa drove his car into the armored vehicle in an attempt to flee he then shifted into forward, accelerated and drove into the side of the house where the SWAT Team was able to pin his vehicle against the house preventing his escape in the vehicle. During this encounter Giampapa was armed with a knife, he then exited the vehicle still armed with the knife and refusing to comply with officers on scene. Due to his failure to comply and drop the knife several less than lethal rounds were deployed in an attempt to stop him. Giampapa was able to retreat back inside the residence. The SWAT team re-established their containment of the house and using the armored vehicle they pushed open the front door while continuing to give Giampapa verbal commands to surrender. Shortly after the front door was breached Giampapa exited the rear of the residence and was taken into custody without further incident.

Subsequent to his arrest and search of the residence a Loaded Smith & Wesson .380 Caliber firearm was located. Investigation into the Firearm revealed that it was reported stolen out of Barnstable in 2016.

Giampapa was transported to the Yarmouth Police Department where he was booked on numerous charges including multiple counts of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (Vehicle), Possession of a Firearm without an FID Card, Possession of a Firearm with 3 prior violent / Drug convictions, Improper storage of a Firearm, Possession of Ammunition without an FID Card, Receiving Stolen Property (Firearm) and Disorderly Conduct.

Giampapa is well known to law enforcement and has a long criminal history including a conviction in 2013 for a double shooting in Yarmouth as well as numerous other Assault & Battery and Weapon related Charges. Giampapa is currently out on Pre-Trial Release for Assault and Battery and Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon (Knife) stemming from a 2019 case that occurred in Yarmouth.

[The above media release was prepared by Chief Frank Frederickson]

[YPD Booking Photo of Giampapa, along with HN photos from the scene]
………………….
INITIAL HN REPORT:

SOUTH YARMOUTH – Even after being pummeled with several 40mm beanbag rounds, the suspect still managed to re-enter the house and try to escape out the back door, cops say.

The entire scene reportedly began as a heated “verbal domestic” dispute yesterday afternoon – Wednesday, March 16, 2022. It would end several hours later after an intense standoff involving SWAT team members, negotiators and a wild escape attempt.

The initial domestic dispute had escalated when the male suspect allegedly refused to exit the residence at 55 Lakefield Road. According to police sources, the suspect then barricaded himself in the cellar, saying he had a gun. That’s when SWAT team members began responding to the scene. The SWAT team’s armored bearcat also arrived. Lakefield Road was shut down as negotiators did their best to have the man surrender peacefully.

It didn’t quite end peacefully.

At one point the suspect allegedly armed himself with a knife and tried to escape out the back door, according to police. When the backdoor escape attempt didn’t pan out, the situation wore on until the suspect eventually made his way into a white Honda sedan parked in the front driveway.

From the front driveway, the suspect then allegedly backed the sedan into the armored SWAT BearCat that was blocking the driveway. From that point, the suspect’s vehicle reportedly lurched forward and rammed into the garage. The Bearcat wasted no time moving forward, quickly pinning the suspect’s vehicle against the building, sources say.

The suspect was reportedly struck with several 40mm police beanbag rounds before managing to make his way back into the house. He then, once again, tried to escape out the back door, but was finally taken into custody this time.

Officers then began to investigate the damaged, debris-littered scene. The back window of the Honda sedan had a softball-sized hole from a beanbag round. The residence’s front door had obviously been bashed in. A member of the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Crime Scene Unit flagged evidence and took photos. Other uninvolved residents of the same address were eventually allowed to re-enter their home, with one man retrieving a very friendly, doe-eyed pit bull terrier, likely traumatized from all the commotion.

Sources confirmed that Michael Giampapa was the man taken into custody. Giampapa is no stranger to law enforcement. In 2013, Giampapa was sentenced to 5 to 7 years in state prison after pleading guilty to shooting two brothers in West Yarmouth, according to various sources. Both brothers survived.

A Yarmouth Police Detective told HN he had coincidently just left Barnstable Superior Court prior to yesterday’s wild standoff. He had been at court to see a notorious convicted Cape Cod cop killer yet again sentenced for another serious crime… this time for partially cutting off an inmate’s ear during a jail fight. Like Giampapa (yesterday’s standoff suspect), the notorious cop killer had also been no stranger to law enforcement prior to murdering Sergeant Sean Gannon, a fellow member of the Yarmouth Police Department. Yesterday in Superior Court, the cop killer was sentence to an additional [9-12] years in state prison on the severed ear caper. And like Giampapa, the notorious cop killer had also been a repeat offender. (One cop on scene had been about to voice his frustration about a system that keeps releasing dangerous repeat offenders… but quickly resisted getting started on a subject that would only make him more and more upset…)

In the 2013 shooting case where Giampapa was sentenced to 5 to 7 years, he was also sentence to an additional three-year concurrent sentence for being an armed career criminal, according to a Cape Cod Times report from that same time period.

Giampapa was said to be observed wearing a GPS ankle bracelet yesterday, according to one source… but that has not yet been officially confirmed.

Many of the aforementioned story details were gathered on scene from Yarmouth Police officials. HN will provide additional details and official updates as they become available.

* All suspects are presumed to be innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

P.S. – Today’s Hytown Vignette is a brought to you by Quincy Jones & Rahsaan Roland Kirk… [CLICK IT/CRANK IT!]