Cambridge Man Arrested for Central Square Machete Attack After 18-Hour Standoff With Police

Cambridge police arrested an individual who allegedly attacked a bystander with a machete after an 18-hour standoff at an apartment building near MIT that began Friday night.

Princiano Faustin, a 51-year-old Cambridge resident, was allegedly wielding “two large machete type knives” and struck another individual in the head near a Central Square bus stop Friday evening when officers first interacted with him. The victim was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Police pursued Faustin on foot as he continued swinging both knives. Faustin refused verbal commands from the officers, yelling multiple times that he “wanted officers to shoot him,” according to a Saturday afternoon statement from the Cambridge Police Department.

Faustin allegedly made movements towards a “crowded park,” leading officers to fire at him using a 40-millimeter Less-Than-Lethal Launcher — which fires “less lethal” ammunition to avoid the use of deadly force. CPD wrote that Faustin was hit multiple times but was not subdued, instead barricading himself in his apartment.

A Friday evening email alert from CPD warned of road closures and heavy police presence near the building at approximately 9 p.m. but noted that the incident was confined.

Around 2 a.m. on Saturday, after a “prolonged period of non-engagement” with Faustin, officers deployed a pepper ball — projectiles designed to break on impact, releasing a chemical irritant similar to pepper spray. The pepper ball did not result in Faustin’s surrender, according to the Saturday afternoon statement.

The irritant spread through the apartment building’s shared ventilation system, impacting multiple units in the six-story building. The apartments, managed by affordable housing developer Just-a-Start,include 61 units of affordable housing.

“We understand that the use of chemical agents, particularly in shared residential buildings, raises concern. Every use of force by this department is reviewed, and that review is already underway in this case,” CPD wrote.

“While we support the difficult decisions made by officers in real time under stressful and unpredictable circumstances, we also recognize that we must continuously evaluate our tactics — especially when vulnerable community members are impacted,” the statement read.

Faustin was arrested around 1 p.m. on Saturday after officers were able to enter his apartment. He will be arraigned in Cambridge District Court on multiple charges, according to the statement.

—Staff writer Laurel M. Shugart can be reached at laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com. Follow them on X @laurelmshugart.