Man Deemed Too Dangerous For Bail After Shooting

Man Deemed Too Dangerous For Bail After Shooting

Damien Fisher News Staff Writer TEMPLETON  A Templeton man is being held without bail after he allegedly fired a rifle inside his home, with one shot going toward his wife and young daughter, according to court records. Matthew Bisceglia Jr., 54, of 42 Prospect St, Templeton, is charged with two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, and one count of discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building. Winchendon District Court Judge Arthur Haley ordered Mr. Bisceglia held without bail following Friday’s dangerousness hearing in the Gardner court. According to police reports, officers were called to the Bisceglia property on the night of Oct. 30 after Mr. Bisceglia fired his black powder rifle inside the home. Mr. Bisceglia’s wife told Templeton Police Sgt. Derek Hall that her husband had been drinking and suicidal that day. He reportedly drank 14 nip bottles of liquor and eight beers, she told officers. While she was in the living room with her 3-year-old daughter, Mr. Bisceglia fired the rifle, the woman told police. She fled the home and called 911, thinking Mr. Bisceglia was still inside. One of the shots went into the living room, and the other into a neighbor’s home, according to police. Police from Templeton, Winchendon and Phillipston, as well as Massachusetts State Police officers and the STOP tactical team arrived on scene. A perimeter was quickly put around the house, according to the reports. Police negotiators tried contacting Mr. Bisceglia by phone inside the home, but instead they got word he was no longer there. Mr. Bisceglia’s adult daughter reportedly took her father and the guns from the home before police arrived. The adult daughter reportedly said that she would bring her father to a place where police could not find him, specifically a hotel in Westminster. Police confirmed that Mr. Bisceglia was no longer in the home, and a check of Westminster hotel did not find him, according to the report. Inside the home, Mr. Hall noted that from the trajectory of the rifle shots, it appeared that Mr. Bisceglia was aiming at his wife and young daughter, and not attempting suicide as originally suspected. “I advised (Mr. Bisceglia’s wife) that if he was trying to kill himself with a rifle it could be possible that he missed once but very unlikely he missed killing himself two times in a row,” Mr. Hall wrote in his report. Police issued a warrant for Mr. Bisceglia's arrest, and he turned himself in at the Templeton police station the following day. There he told officers that he had been taking medications as well as drinking, according to police reports. Mr. Bisceglia has a criminal history of assaultive behaviors, according to court records. Judge Haley ruled that given his criminal history, as well as his history of mental health issues and substance abuse, he is too dangerous to be allowed to be released on bail. Mr. Bisceglia’s adult daughter is also facing possible criminal charges for her alleged role in interfering with the police investigation of the shooting, according to the reports.