Maine State Police are searching for a Hollis man after a 12-hour standoff at a Portland hotel room that turned out to be empty.
Vincent Teruel, 40, is wanted in connection with an alleged domestic violence assault, according to police.
Teruel checked into a room at the Motel 6 in Portland on Monday, the morning after the alleged assault. Police descended on the property and evacuated guests from the entire fourth floor and most of the third floor as a precaution, according to Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland.
That prompted a lengthy standoff that ended late Monday night when police entered the hotel room Teruel had checked into only to find no one there. After the room was cleared, the roughly three dozen hotel guests who had been evacuated were allowed to return to their rooms.
Police believed that Teruel might have been armed, which is one of the reasons the hotel was evacuated, McCausland said. Police later found the gun elsewhere.
Police ask anyone with an idea of Teruel’s whereabouts to call state police in Gray at 657-3030.