WATERVILLE — A Spruce Street man was arrested Friday morning after he allegedly assaulted his mother, wreaked havoc in their apartment and threatened to point a gun at police officers when they arrived, with the expectation that they would shoot him.

Zachary Larrabee, 29, of 25 Spruce St. ultimately emerged from the second-floor apartment after police surrounded the building with guns drawn and demanded he come out with his hands up.

Larrabee’s mother, Linda Noble, 58, said at the scene later Friday that her son just “flipped out,” and that he needs help.

As he trashed the apartment, she said, she ran downstairs to neighbor Nancy Duby’s apartment and had her call the police. Larabee followed.

It turns out police had already dealt with Larrabee four times Friday morning.

Police Chief Joseph Massey said the downstairs neighbor called 911 at 9:38 a.m. to report Larrabee was acting irrationally.

“When (Duby) called us, she indicated that Larrabee had come down into her apartment, that he had some sort of handgun with him and that he made some statements to the effect that if police were called, he was going to point the gun at us,” Massey said. “At that point, he grabbed his mother and forced her back upstairs and into the apartment.”

Police surrounded the house, blocked off streets to traffic and spoke with people in the area, one of whom said Larrabee had a squirt gun and another who said it was a handgun and that it could be a C02 pellet gun, Massey said. Winslow police were called to help control traffic and help block off streets.

There was no phone in Larrabee’s apartment and he and his mother had no cellphone, so Sgt. Jennifer Weaver, the department’s hostage negotiator, spoke to Larrabee via a loudspeaker to try to get him to come out of the building and surrender, Massey said.

“We tried that for about 40 minutes,” Massey said. “When he finally did emerge from the apartment building, he appeared to have something in his hand. He also had a towel wrapped around his forearm. He came out with his hands up.”

Larrabee was carrying a pair of eyeglasses, a small dark cloth bag and the towel, but no gun, police said.

He apparently had punched himself in the head and cut himself three or four times on his forearm, according to Massey.

He said Larrabee did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. He was taken into protective custody.

He was charged with domestic violence assault for grabbing his mother and forcing her upstairs into their apartment, Massey said.