NEW DURHAM - A Barnstead man, clad in a bullet resistant vest, was arrested last night after making suicidal threats in a cell phone call with Barnstead police.

The incident began about 8:30 p.m. when New Durham police went to a Berry Road home after a woman reported a man was outside yelling and screaming and that he had gone into woods near her residence.

Police said that man, Shane A. Perkins, 24, of Barnstead, was threatening to commit suicide in a cell phone conversation with Barnstead police.

A police dog tracked Perkins to his vehicle, which was abandoned on a logging road, according to New Durham Police Chief Shawn Bernier. Police found tear gas grenades inside it.

Police were then called to a residence on Weeks Road that Perkins allegedly entered. The homeowner did not know Perkins, who was wearing a bullet resistant vest. She called police who arrested him.

Perkins was wearing a bulletproof vest when arrested and had 12-gauge shotgun shells on him but no firearm, Bernier said. He also had a small pocketknife, the chief said.

Bernier explained that possessing tear gas grenades or owning and wearing a bulletproof vest are both legal as long as they are not used in a commission of a crime. The incident remains under investigation.

Perkins is being held without bail on charges of criminal trespass, loitering-prowling and violating a restraining order.

He is to be arraigned Thursday in Rochester District Court. Bernier said the prosecutor, from the Strafford County Attorney’s Domestic Violence Unit, will ask the judge to order Bernier to undergo a mental evaluation as a condition of bail.