Multiple arrested during large law enforcement response at Norfolk apartment building

Two people were arrested Wednesday night after a large group of law enforcement officers went to a Norfolk apartment building in search of a man with felony arrest warrants. Around 7 p.m. Wednesday, police were dispatched to 1414 S.

Third St. after someone made a tip to law enforcement that a man with felony arrest warrants was at the apartment building, said Lt. Joe Greenough with the Madison County Sheriff’s Office. Greenough said that the man, identified as 35-year-old Patrick Prince, was seen by police at the building upon officers’ arrival.

But Prince held up in an apartment, prompting a larger law enforcement response, which included the sheriff’s office, Norfolk Police Division and Nebraska State Patrol. Some tenants left their apartments, and police eventually determined that Prince was located in a unit on the second story. Greenough said the Norfolk Police Division obtained a search warrant for the apartment they believed Prince was in and executed the warrant with the help of the sheriff’s office and state patrol, arresting Prince around 9:30 to 9:45 p.m.

Prince is not believed to be a resident at 1414 S. Third St., Greenough said. A second person in the apartment, whom Greenough said would be identified later, was with Prince and also was arrested when police learned that the second person had a warrant, too.

Neither of the subjects was armed, according to Greenough, and nobody was injured. The second person is believed to live at 1414 S. Third St.

According to court records, Prince was arrested May 16 by Norfolk police on suspicion of possession of methamphetamine, a felony. He failed to appear in Madison County District Court on Sept.

22, resulting in a judge signing a warrant for his arrest. Prosecutors later charged Prince with failure to appear, also a felony.

Prince also had a warrant out of Lancaster County for attempted possession of methamphetamine. He failed to show up for court there on Sept.

28. The 35-year-old has been sentenced to prison in Nebraska three times, most recently in July 2021 for assault, deadly weapon possession and drug possession in Platte County.

He was released last April. Greenough said Prince would face additional charges resulting from Wednesday’s incident once police conclude their investigation. Wednesday marked the second time in about 2 1/2 months in which there was a large police presence at 1414 S.

Third St. On Oct.

19, the body of a man, later identified as 29-year-old Zachariah Andrews, was found inside a chimney at the apartment building after tenants complained of a foul odor and flies swarming in the building. Andrews had last been seen in mid-September and was reported missing about two weeks before his body was found.

Police have preliminarily ruled his death as an accident.