Break-In Suspect Fights With Homeowner and Police Before Arrest

NEW BEDFORD — A New Bedford man with a lengthy criminal record faces a number of new charges after allegedly breaking into a North End home.

Police received a report of a break-in at 129 Seabury Street at around 3 p.m. on Tuesday after the owners had come home to find a bicycle on their property, a ladder outside a window and a strange man in their house. Police say the 77-year-old homeowner tried to detain the suspect, but the intruder fought back. Police say he pushed and scratched the homeowner during a brief struggle, and threatened to strike him with a plastic chair before finally fleeing on the bike.

Officers on patrol soon saw a man riding a bicycle that fit the description of the intruder. After a brief chase and struggle, police arrested the man, Shane Patrick Murdock, 45, of New Bedford.

Police found a crow bar, believed to belong to Murdock, at the scene of the initial break-in.

Murdock faces charges of breaking and entering in the daytime for a felony, possession of burglarious instruments, resisting arrest, assault and battery on a 60+/disabled person, and assault with a dangerous weapon. Murdock also had two outstanding warrants for his arrest.

Murdock has a 62-page record for a host of offenses, including charges that led to two years in the House of Correction in 2009 for larceny and 18 months in the House of Correction in in 2005 for knowingly receiving stolen property, among other charges.

Murdock is being held without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Third District Court.