ST. JOHNSBURY — A 44-year-old man allegedly stabbed his girlfriend in the neck, took a pre-teen relative hostage and triggered a police standoff Tuesday.
Johnnie Simpson of St. Johnsbury was arrested after a three-hour incident on Caledonia Street that morning, according to the Caledonian Record.
Troopers with the Vermont State Police provided backup, state police spokesman Adam Silverman said, though the agency didn’t deploy its SWAT team.
St. Johnsbury Police Chief Tim Page said he would not be available until later Tuesday to discuss the incident.
Citing family members, the Caledonian Record reported that Simpson’s girlfriend drove to a relative’s house for help after the stabbing.
A relative went to the house on Caledonia Street and smashed the front-door window with a crowbar, the paper’s website reported, but Simpson wouldn’t let the preteen go.
Officers responded to the home at about 7 a.m. and negotiated until about 10 a.m. with Simpson, who was holding the young person upstairs, the paper reported.
Then Simpson agreed to surrender and was taken away in handcuffs, with the preteen appearing unharmed.
According to the Department of Corrections’ offender database, Simpson is 44 years old. He was booked for an unknown offense in 2009 before being released in 2011.
Essex County State’s Attorney Vince Illuzzi said Simpson is the brother of Everett Simpson, the 41-year-old Vermont man accused of kidnapping a New Hampshire woman and her 5-year-old son in January and raping her at a White River Junction hotel.
Two days before that incident, Everett Simpson had been ordered to attend Valley Vista, the Bradford substance-abuse treatment center, after posting bail in an unrelated case. But he walked out of the facility a day later.
In January, WCAX ran a story about the case heavily featuring an interview with Johnnie Simpson.
