PORTLAND — Police plan to take civil action against the man who was at the center of a 13-hour standoff that ended peacefully early Friday morning.

Patrick Mullen, 41, was taken into protective custody and sent to Maine Medical Center for a psychological evaluation after police brought him out of his apartment on Washburn Street around 4:30 a.m.

Mullen has not been charged with any criminal offenses, but police hope to recoup the costs associated with the standoff, which continued even after police used tear gas. Police Capt. Ted Ross said he did not have an estimate of the costs.

“I do know it’s significant,” he said.

Police were called to Mullen’s apartment building on Washburn Street, off St. John Street and near Hadlock Field, shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday after someone reported that he was making suicidal and homicidal threats during a telephone conversation.

Police knew Mullen because of previous incidents, Ross said.

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Officers blocked streets near the apartment building because of the situation Thursday, and some residents of Washburn Street were kept out of their homes.

Police said they were unable to get Mullen to engage in conversation with them.

During brief exchanges, police said, Mullen made threats, including about blowing up the building or burning it down, and was seen showing a handgun.

The Police Department’s Special Reaction Team and hostage crisis negotiators were brought to the scene. The Southern Maine Tactical Team, composed of officers from South Portland, Scarborough and Cape Elizabeth, joined the effort in the early-morning hours.

Officers fired tear gas into the building twice, once after midnight and again after 3 a.m. Police already had gotten Mullen’s golden retriever out of the building by breaching a doorway, and had given the dog to a family member, Ross said.

Police entered Mullen’s apartment through a window around 4:30 a.m. and Mullen left without any resistance.

Ross said police were unable to find the handgun in the clutter of the apartment.


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