MANCHESTER — A city man described by neighbors as someone who doesn’t like to call attention to himself subdued at gunpoint a man who broke into a Cypress Street home Tuesday.

“I saw him from my window; he kicked in the back door and went into the house,” said Mike Cote, who lives on Hospital Avenue. “I went outside and heard him running up the stairs. I got my gun and ran around to the front.”

The suspect was identified by police as Charles Javery, 49, a resident of a city homeless shelter. As Javery emerged from the house, Cote raised his semiautomatic gun and told the man to get down.

“He saw a felony being committed; he was privileged to enter his neighbor’s property,” Police Chief David Mara said. “He then apprehended the suspect, who was there to victimize his neighbor in order to fuel his drug habit.”

Two other Hospital Avenue neighbors, who live across from Cote, helped subdue Javery.

“He walked out of the house like he owned it, even locked and shut the door behind him,” said neighbor Missy Riley. “Mike pulled his gun and told him to get down.”

“As he got down he said, ‘I’m sick,’” Cote said.

Riley said she had called Manchester police before joining her husband, Jason Riley, in running up Hospital Avenue to the front of the Cypress Street house. Once Javery was subdued, Jason Riley held the man down, while Missy Riley held his arms away from his body.

“He tried to reach in his pockets; he said he just wanted a cigarette,” she said. “Then when the police searched him, he had hypodermic needles in that pocket.”

Mara praised Cote for responding quickly, but said he would rather have seen Cote call 911 when he saw the neighbor’s house being broken into.

“Although his quick action prevented a crime, you never know what is going to happen and I would not like to see him get hurt,” Mara said.

Cote, 48, who said he is licensed to carry a handgun, is a U.S. Coast Guard veteran. A former city garbage collector, he has worked for Public Service of New Hampshire as a chemical analyst at its Bow power plant for 30 years.

His father, now deceased, was a 25-year member of the Manchester police force.

Officers who responded Tuesday reported that Cote cooperated fully in allowing them to relieve him of his weapon when they got to the scene.

“When officers arrived, he relinquished the firearm to an officer so the officer could secure it,” police spokesman Lt. Maureen Tessier said. “We knew we were responding to a call with a gun involved.”

Javery spend the night in jail and was arraigned in circuit court in Manchester Wednesday morning.

Bail was set at $25,000 cash or surety. If he posts bond, he is subject to a court order barring him from contacting the victim or going to the Cypress Street address.

A 72-hour probation hold was ordered for Javery, who was given a suspended sentence on a 2007 conviction for receiving stolen property. Prosecutors told the court he has a criminal record in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, including several cases of breaking and entering and assault.

A probable cause hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 5

Residents said their neighborhood, near the Elliot Hospital and directly across from the Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester, has been plagued by housebreaks and burglaries.

“I hope we have the one who has been breaking into houses in the neighborhood,” Cote said. “I didn’t want him breaking into mine.”

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Bill Smith may be reached at wsmith@unionleader.com. New Hampshire Union Leader Staff Writer Dale Vincent (dvincent@unionleader.com) contributed to this report.