BRIDGEPORT CT July 19 2019 – A homeless man with nearly 300 previous criminal convictions was arrested after police said he threatened to blow up St. Vincent’s Medical Center.

Tonito Viera, 61, who has 296 convictions going back more than a decade for threatening, disorderly conduct and criminal trespass, was charged Tuesday with interfering with an officer, second-degree breach of peace and threatening.

During his court appearance Wednesday, Viera stood calmly before Superior Court Judge William Holden until the bail commissioner mentioned that Viera had a number of prior convictions for failing to appear in court.

“Well what did you (expletive) expect me to do?” he yelled before being taken away by judicial marshals.

Police said on Tuesday officers were dispatched to the hospital’s parking lot for a disturbance. Police said Viera was yelling that he was going to blow up the hospital and then made a motion with his hand toward a security guard as if he were firing a gun.

CT Post

Share this post: on Twitter on Facebook