A person clearly suffering from a mental health crisis attacked a police officer with a sword and was Tasered and shot, leading to his death, authorities say.
“This was a very chaotic circumstance for a number of first responders, both from the mental health perspective, as well as members of the Boston Police Department doing everything they could to deal with a difficult situation and an individual who was clearly in some sort of mental distress,” Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said at a press conference near where the incident took place.
The “chaotic” scene unfolded in the hallway of an apartment building in the 200 block of Hemenway Street in the area of Northeastern University housing late Saturday morning, authorities said.
It all began with a 10:44 a.m. 911 call in which the caller reported that four people armed with guns were after him. Police arrived and located the caller and spoke with him through the apartment door, according to Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox.
The police quickly determined that an EMS mental health clinician would be needed because the person was “suffering some type of mental health crisis,” Cox said. The clinician, with officers present, spoke with the person through the apartment door for maybe 35 to 45 minutes.
“As they asked the individual to begin the process of maybe coming up and seeking the attention they needed, the individual immediately opened the door and struck both the clinician and an officer who was outside the door,” Cox said.
The person was armed with “some type of sword,” Cox said, and stabbed an officer with it and knocked the clinician to the ground. Cox and Hayden said that “multiple” officers were taken to hospitals, but other than the stabbed officer it is not immediately clear how the other officers were injured.
At least one officer then fired both Tasers and service pistols at the attacker, “bringing the person to a halt,” Cox said. That person was provided immediate first aid and rushed to a hospital but died from his injuries.
Cox said that department policy involving shootings is “based on the individual and the threat that’s involved,” but that initial information suggests that the “use of the firearm was properly justified in this case.”
Hayden said that with all shootings involving police, the case will be investigated by his office.
“I think it’s going to be quite some time before we’re going to be able to have a full picture of exactly what happened here,” Hayden said, “but our first responders, all of them, I think responded to the scene the best they can.”
This is a developing story.