Homeless ex-boyfriend breaks into barricaded apartment
LAWRENCE — Police said a homeless man broke into his ex-girlfriend's barricaded apartment on Fern Street and threatened to kill her before he was arrested early Sunday morning.
Ernesto Ortiz, 37, was charged with breaking and entering, willful and malicious injury to personal property, assault by means of a dangerous weapon, and threatening to commit a crime.
Police first responded at 1:51 a.m. to a report of an unwanted guest at 69 Fern St., where a female resident said Ortiz was trying to get inside after she had kicked him out two months before.
The officers were called back a half-hour later when the woman said Ortiz had returned. They found the front door ajar with fresh damage to the frame and lock.
According to a police report, the woman told police that Ortiz gained entry to the apartment and "held a Corona bottle in the air while stating to the victim, 'I am going to kill you.'"
Police found Ortiz in the second-floor hallway, where he was arrested.
The female caller told police that Ortiz was able to enter the apartment after her uncle removed a barricade on the door when they saw police cruisers outside the apartment.
Police said Ortiz was held off by the woman's uncle until officers arrived to make the arrest.
