2 Cops Shot in East Boston



Two Boston police officers were critically injured after being shot by a suspect, who was killed in the ensuing gunfight, late Wednesday night in East Boston. (Published 3 hours ago)

Two police officers were shot in an East Boston neighborhood late Wednesday and the suspect, who had an assault-style rifle and a ballistic vest, is dead, authorities said.

Both of the officers’ conditions are described as “extremely critical” as they undergo surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, according to Boston Police Commissioner William Evans. Their names have not been released. One of the officers is a 28-year veteran on the force, while the other has served for 12 years.

Nine other officers were taken to Tufts Medical Center to treat minor injuries and emotional stress.

Authorities said officers were responding to a dispute between two roommates at 136 Gladstone St. just before 11 p.m., and when officers arrived, one of the roommates who was armed fired on police. The second roommate was not injured in the shooting.

The suspect, whose name also has not been released, was described to NBC News by a senior Boston police official as “heavily armed,” and may have had as many as three firearms, including a weapon described as a “long gun/rifle.”

Evans said early Thursday morning that the suspect, a 33-year-old man, had at least one assault-style rifle and a ballistic vest.

According to Evans, several officers entered the building after hearing gun shots and dragged out the injured officers while exchanging gunfire with the suspect.

One officer was able to put his hand inside an injured officer’s wound and apply first aid. 

Residents were asked to shelter-in-place or stay away from the area as police briefly searched the area for a possible second suspect. The shelter-in-place has since been lifted and residents were escorted back to their homes.

Commissioner Evans asked Boston to “please pray for our injured officers.”

“We’re hoping they make a full recovery,” Mayor Marty Walsh said.

Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley pledged his office “will do a fair and thorough investigation.”

Meanwhile, residents described the chaos in the immediate moments after the shooting.

“I saw a whole bunch of guns, and the shooting kept going, and [police officers] were running,” resident Eric Dicrescenzo said.

He added, “I’ve never been that close to a shooting in an uncontrolled area, so I was kind of freaking out.

Tiara Willdigg, whose car was parked near the scene of the shooting, said she got a phone call from a friend about the shooting.

“I was coming outside and ran out of the house and I went up there, and as I’m up there, there’s mad SWAT, just ran, ran, ‘Get off the street, get off the street,’ heard shots popping off,” she said.

Evans said it’s likely no officers in the East Boston shooting were wearing body cameras because the district isn’t part of the department’s pilot body camera program.

Published at 11:37 PM PDT on Oct 12, 2016 | Updated 3 minutes ago

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