HAVERHILL — Who is the man accused of pointing a gun at a bartender who refused to serve him a drink?
Police said they are investigating whether his real name is Cesar Maldonado and his background.
When police arrested him, they said he had a Mexican driver's license that identified him as Maldonado, which led them to believe he is a recent immigrant from Mexico.
After witnesses told police he pointed a gun at a bartender at the 8th Avenue Tavern late Sunday night, police tracked him to nearby Dudley Street. They said they believe he is 34 and has been living at 29 Dudley St.
But investigators have since fingerprinted him and are running the prints through law enforcement databases to look for matches and confirmation of his identity, said Stephen O'Connell, spokesman for Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett.
O'Connell said the man identified as Maldonado was fingerprinted at the Middleton House of Correction, where he is being held without bail after his arraignment in Haverhill District Court on Monday. He is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, carrying a firearm without being licensed, illegal possession of ammunition, and receiving stolen property over $250. Police determined the gun was stolen from a home sometime earlier.
"We have questions about his identity and prosecutor John DePaulo asked the judge to order that he be fingerprinted at the jail," said O'Connell, who did not have an estimate as to how long it would take for the fingerprint check to be completed.
When asked if his office was trying to determine if Maldonado was in the United States illegally, O'Connell would only say that his office has questions about his identity.
Police said the man was having a drink at the 8th Avenue Tavern about 11 p.m. Sunday, and that when he ordered another drink the bartender refused to serve him and told him it was closing time.
A short time later, the bartender, joined by a couple of other employees, went outside for a break. They were followed by the man who was denied the drink, who then went into his minivan, pulled out a handgun, pointed it at the woman and then cocked the hammer, police said.
Police said the stolen .45-caliber, semiautomatic Taurus handgun that he pointed at the woman had four rounds in its magazine. Police said the gun was listed as one of two weapons stolen Sept. 19, 2007, from 39 Dana Hill Road in New Hampton, N.H.
It was a frightening scene, according to police. The woman dropped to the ground to hide behind a tire on her car and several other people ran inside the bar and shut the door behind them.
The man drove away down Cedar Street, police said.
While searching the nearby 7th Avenue area, police were approached by a man who said that just before they arrived he had been approached by a man, who appeared intoxicated, walking up 7th Avenue and who had asked him for a ride to Dudley Street, which he gave him.
With the help of witnesses, police found the minivan on 7th Avenue. Police said it was registered to a woman at 25 Dudley St. Police arrested the man identified as Maldonado as he was opening the front door of the building, and said he had just walked downstairs from a third-floor apartment.
Police searched the apartment and found the gun in a hallway closet and a Mexican driver's license on the floor next to a sofa bed. Police said one of the residents of the apartment denied knowing anything about the gun being in the house.
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