Updated with detail: One man dead, one in custody after Feb. 25 neighbor dispute

MIDDLEBORO — A 68-year-old Middleboro man is dead and his 45-year-old upstairs neighbor in custody following a Feb. 25 confrontation at the 21 School St. apartment house where both lived.

Gregory Pickett was arraigned in Wareham District Court on Feb. 26 and charged with assault and battery on a police officer, assault and battery on an elderly disabled person and resisting arrest. He is being held at Bridgewater State Hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

The victim, Mark Pray, had called police reporting Pickett had punched him in the stomach after Pray asked Pickett to turn down his loud music.

At the scene 

Police reports state Pray and Pickett both made calls to police on Wednesday night, only a few minutes apart. By the time police arrived, Pray was unconscious. 

Police responded to the scene after Pray called 911, and told dispatchers he would wait for police outside of their building.

As officers walked up the driveway to the multi-family residence, dispatchers told them Pickett was on the phone with them, stating Pray was unconscious. They heard yelling from the home and went inside.

As they entered the home, Middleboro officers Eric Stebbins and Christopher Ayers reported Pickett was standing over Pray — who was unresponsive, lying face down in the building’s common room — telling him to “snap out of it,” and was on the phone with dispatchers.

The officers then asked Pickett what had happened. He reportedly told them Pray had “forcefully” entered his apartment, and he had pushed Pray “out of the doorway and closed the door.”

Ayers assessed Pray, who laid at the bottom of a staircase, reportedly with two bruises on his face and Ayers could not detect a pulse.

Ayers began CPR on Pray inside of the home, while Stebbins brought Pickett outside. As Ayers attempted to resuscitate Pray, Pickett reportedly began “advancing toward [Stebbins] in an attempt to assault him,” as the officer tried to detain him.

The report states Stebbins then deployed his taser twice on the advancing Pickett, and Ayers immediately stopped CPR to assist him — deploying his own taser two additional times at Pickett in an attempt to stop him. 

“Gregory turned his attention from Officer Stebbins to me and ran directly toward me,” Ayers writes in his report. “Gregory [Pickett] struck me in the nose with a closed fist as he continued to charge me.”

Police state Pickett wore a thick jacket so the taser probes didn’t pierce his clothing. 

At that point, Pickett slipped on ice and fell, the officers tased him again as he resisted being handcuffed. Pickett was tased eight times and pepper sprayed in the face before police detained him. Pickett reportedly sustained a cut to his chin after falling on ice.

After Pickett was handcuffed, Ayers resumed CPR on Pray, who was still unconscious. The Middleboro Fire Department arrived shortly after and continued attempts to resuscitate Pray.

Once detained in a police cruiser, Pickett reportedly told officers that he did turn down his music after Pray asked him to. He told officers he pushed Pray out of the doorway since Pray refused to leave, closed the door and found him lying on the ground at the bottom of the stairs after Pickett went down to get his medication from a room on the first floor.

“Gregory was extremely animated and angry, screaming at us during most of the booking process,” wrote Stebbins in his report. 

Pray apparently never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead at Morton Hospital in Taunton.

Previous history 

Before arriving at the scene, officers Stebbins and Ayers had been informed Pickett had a “caution for officer safety” on him for previous behavior.

The police report stated Picket was performing counter surveillance on the Bridgewater police, had wired large sums of money to the Middle East and had made anti-Israeli and anti-American statements.

“Our department has a history with Gregory [Pickett],” it read.

Capitol Police requested a well-being check on him after Pickett made hundreds of calls to Congress and “was harassing them,” according to the report. 

When officers checked on him, he said he had been working with an intelligence agency since 2006. He also claimed he had information about the 9/11 terror attacks and the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and would continue to call Congress if he had more information, the officers reported.

Pickett’s next court date will be on March 20, for a hearing to establish his state of mental health in connection to the charges.