Man Involved in 5-Hour Standoff Identified

The man found dead after a five-hour standoff in Salem on Saturday has been identified.

George Sprague, 49, was found dead in his apartment from an apparent suicide, according to Carrie Kimball-Monahan, spokesman for Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett.

It started at 7:48 a.m. on Saturday when the Salem Police and Fire Department were called to 13 Meadow St. for the report of an explosion in the first floor apartment.

A police officer who approached the home, which is a few doors up from Canal Street, had an “explosive device” thrown toward him, Kimball-Monahan said. It did not detonate, she said.

That resulted in police calling in the Northeast Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council SWAT team, State Police bomb squad and the U.S. Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Police made “multiple attempts” to contact Sprague in the first floor apartment - and multiple explosions occurred inside the apartment - before going inside the apartment at 12:56 p.m., according to Kimball-Monahan.

That is when they found Sprague dead.