Police: Knife-Wielding Man Arrested After Early Morning Standoff

Smash. Smash. Smash. 

It was no way to wake up in the morning.

There are more than a dozen windows facing the front of the bi-level house at 5 Stonehurst Blvd.

But there were far fewer when Travis Cavanaugh, of Freehold, came calling in the dead of the night Wednesday.

And there were far more shards littering the lawn of the 4-bedroom home in a quiet neighborhood near the convergence of Routes 9, 33 and 79.

It was 4:20 a.m., Police Sgt. Jerry Kiwit said.

Cavanaugh, who lives nearby, allegedly began breaking windows in the home where a family was sleeping. He did not know them. They did not know him. There was no relationship between Cavanaugh and the people inside the home, Kiwit said.

It was as random as random gets.

Police were called. Numerous showed: Freehold Township. Freehold Borough. Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, with a police dog named Nanook, Kiwit said.  

And there they stood, facing Cavanaugh, who was wielding a 10-inch kitchen knife, threatening police, threatening himself, according to Kiwit.

And so it went, for more than an hour: Police trying to talk down Cavanaugh and Cavanaugh refusing, Kiwit said.

It did end, peacefully. Cavanaugh was taken into custody about an hour after the standoff began, Kiwit said.

Cavanaugh was charged with criminal mischief, making terroristic threats, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and aggravated assault, Kiwit said.

He was taken to CentraState Medical Center, Freehold Township, for a psychiatric examination, according to Kiwit. It was not known by 4 p.m. Wednesday if he had been transferred to Monmouth County jail, Kiwit said.

Jail records by 4:30 p.m. Wednesday did not list Cavanaugh as an inmate.