The man who shot himself during a standoff with Massachusetts State Police on Interstate 495 in Andover last night has died.
Anthony Miele, 49, of Quincy, was taken to Lawrence General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead just before midnight on Tuesday. Earlier in the evening, Miele had barricaded himself in a car stopped in the median near the intersection of Interstate 93 and the Andover-Lawrence line, forcing state police to close I-495 in both directions for nearly two hours.
A State Trooper spotted a BMW linked to several South Shore ban robberies parked outside of Digital Federal Credit Union on Route 28 in Methuen around 7 pm. The trooper was in an unmarked cruiser and followed Miele as he drove away in the car. When the trooper and a second trooper tried to pull the car over, Miele fled on side streets and Route 28, eventually getting on I-495 south in Lawrence.
Around 7:10, Miele pulled onto the center grass median, turned the car around and stopped. When troopers got to the car, Miele was holding a gun to his head. Crisis negotiators tried to talk Miele out of the car, and at one point he threw a bulletproof vest and ammunition out of the car. Miele continued to refuse to get out of the car and shot himself around 9:10 p.m.
Police in Easton believe Miele tried to rob a bank in that town around 5 pm Monday, but fled when he pulled the door and found the bank was close. Based on the bulletproof vest and head covering, police believe the same man robbed a Harbor One Bank in Easton and a Santander Bank in Lincoln last month. In January 2021, Kingston police arrested Miele and three others and accused them of running a copper theft ring.
Photo Credit: Easton Police Department