GORHAM – Police say crisis-situation training was a valuable factor in last week’s successful apprehension – without a shot fired – of a suspect following a call of an armed man barricaded in a fraternity house in downtown Gorham.

The call came in at 7:10 p.m. on Jan. 22, and the response led to the arrest several hours later of Alan-Michael Santos, 23, a University of Southern Maine student from Wilmington, Mass. Police say he had confronted with a handgun a fraternity brother at the Sigma Nu fraternity on School Street.

In Arctic-like cold, police established a perimeter that shut down some businesses and impacted traffic flow through the heart of Gorham Village. Gorham Police Chief Ronald Shepard on Monday described the downtown as the “worst” place for an incident.

University of Southern Maine police, officers from Windham and Westbrook and the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office tactical team augmented the Gorham police.

“We train with all these departments,” Shepard said.

Two of Gorham’s drills last year were just weeks after a gunman in December 2012 killed 20 elementary students and six staff members in a school shooting in Newtown, Conn.

To zero in on an active school-shooter response, Gorham police combined training with other law enforcement agencies in mock situations at the former White Rock School and on the university campus.

Although last week’s case wasn’t an active shooter incident, Lt. Christopher Sanborn said police implemented some of the strategies and tactics they had practiced.

“The training allowed us to get things organized,” Sanborn said. “Very valuable, no question about it.”

University police trained on campus with Gorham officers for the first time last February during the students’ spring break. Last week, two university officers filled roles in the police perimeter.

“It’s always helpful to train together,” USM Police Chief Kevin Conger said on Tuesday. “It was a great opportunity.”

Shepard extolled the value of joint training.

“You are aware of what their training is and how they set up,” Shepard said, referring to other agencies that participated. “We were aware of everything we needed to do to flow smoothly.”

In additional training, Windham Police Chief Rick Lewsen said this week that he and Shepard had attended a number of classes in “incident command training.”

With training under their belts, police resolved last week’s situation without any reported injury or frostbite. Santos agreed to come out peacefully after several hours, according to police. Two handguns were confiscated as evidence in a police search at the fraternity house.

Sanborn said Gorham’s Sgt. Benjamin Moreland, who was on patrol, initiated the perimeter.

“Ben did a fantastic job,” Sanborn said.

Judie O’Malley, a university spokeswoman, said she had been called to the scene, where she saw officers armed with rifles.

“It was like a TV show,” she said.

Brad Beacham, executive director of Sigma Nu fraternity in Lexington, Va., said on Wednesday that its policy prohibits firearms in its houses. Beacham praised first responders and university officials.

“It was a tense assignment,” Beacham said.

Just two buildings away from the fraternity house drama, Betsy Nygren, who grew up in Gorham, was teaching a class on the third floor at Dance Studio of Maine.

“I never thought I would see machine guns on Main Street,” Nygren said.

Police said Santos was barricaded by himself inside the fraternity house. Sanborn said Santos at first didn’t answer his cell phone. Gorham Officer Wayne Drown was on duty assisting with negotiations.

“He (Santos) finally answered the phone,” Sanborn said.

At about 11:30 p.m., Santos said he wanted to turn himself in, according to court documents. Santos was arrested and taken to Cumberland County Jail.

Santos appeared in court on Jan. 24, and bail was set at $10,000 cash.

“He is out on bail,” Sanborn said.

Bail conditions include stipulations that Santos can’t use or possess alcohol/illegal drugs, not possess any dangerous weapons, and have no contact with the university and the fraternity house at 24 School St.

Santos faces charges that include reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, terrorizing and criminal threatening. Tamara Getchell, spokeswoman for the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office, said Santos has a dispositional conference court date set for April 8.

Santos was a junior majoring in business marketing and “is not enrolled in classes,” O’Malley said on Monday.

The downtown drama unfolded after Santos left Thatcher’s Restaurant and Sports Pub across School Street from the fraternity house. The bartender, Ashley Usher, on duty that night, said this week Santos had “one drink – one shot,” and bacon cheese fries.

“He asked for his tab and left,” Usher said. “I didn’t kick him out.”

According to court documents, police reported that a fraternity brother, age 22, had met Santos at Thatcher’s and returned to the fraternity house with Santos. According to a court document, the fraternity brother, a Sigma Nu alumnus who was in the Army, was named but wished to be “confidential.”

The fraternity brother said Santos pointed a “gun at his face” when he went to Santos’ room.

Fraternity members evacuated the property, and O’Malley said, one called university police.

Police deployed two command vehicles and opened Robie Gym because of the cold.

“Oh boy, it was brutally cold,” Sanborn said.

“We were able to rotate people to get warm,” Shepard said.

On the campus, O’Malley said, emails were sent to residence halls asking students to stay put.

“The campus was not locked down,” she said.

In the village, Nygren said, about 40 students ages 11 through 18 were at the dance studio. Seeing “a sea of (blue flashing) lights,” Nygren locked the doors.

Nygren called dispatch and was told School Street was completely closed, but dispatch didn’t comment about the incident. The studio called parents to pick up students and they evacuated at 9:30 p.m. through an emergency exit onto State Street.

An employee at Gorham House of Pizza, Scott Taylor, said an officer at about 9 p.m. told the restaurant it would have to close. Cops were all over the intersection, Taylor said, and he saw an armored vehicle with two officers with rifles standing on the back.

Paul McIntosh had been teaching at the Centre of Movement on State Street. When he tried to walk to 7-Eleven, officers instructed him to return to the building.

“In the moment, it was scary,” McIntosh said. “I felt like someone in a horror film.”

It wasn’t the first time police responded to a Sigma Nu incident. In December 2008, police broke up an early morning brawl involving some 40 people outside the house after a party. The melee led to the arrest of three men, who were not university students. Two were armed with knives, police said.

Sigma Nu fraternity house is on School Street in downtown Gorham, where police alleged a University of Southern Maine student pointed a gun at a fraternity brother on Jan. 22.