"One dead in officer-involved shooting in Dorchester" by Evan Allen, Milton J. Valencia and John R. Ellement Globe Staff February 12, 2016
The 911 call was short — “They shot my boy” — and then the line went dead.
When police arrived at Laredo and Stanwood streets in Dorchester at about 10:35 a.m. Friday, they say they discovered a grisly scene. One man shot multiple times in the legs was inside a nearby home. Outside in the street was a 29-year-old felon with 57 adult arraignments on his record, helping a second wounded man to a waiting car.
As officers approached, Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans said later, the 29-year-old raised his revolver, ignoring screamed commands to drop it, and the officers shot him to death during an exchange of gunfire that sent some residents diving for cover in their houses.
“Nobody takes joy in what happened here today,” Evans said during a press conference at the scene after the shooting. “But if we are confronted with a deadly threat, there is nothing else we can do.’’
Police on Friday did not publicly name the man who was killed because his family had not been notified, but two officials with knowledge of the investigation confirmed his identity.
The man police shot was on probation and had been shot twice before, according to an official with knowledge of the investigation. His lengthy criminal record included two gun convictions, as well as arrests for assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, and possession with intent to distribute a Class B drug, according to the official and court documents.
He allegedly repeatedly threatened police, according to the documents.
What color was he?
In 2014, he was stopped for looking into police officers’ personal vehicles in the parking lot of the Mattapan police station, according to the official.
That same year, he was arrested on Christmas for exposing himself in a McDonald’s, the official said, and when police arrived, he threatened to kill them.
The man was sent for mental health evaluations at Bridgewater State Hospital twice after a 2008 gun arrest; the second time, he was committed for 20 days, according to court documents.
He was sent to that torture chamber?
I doubt that helped him.
The two other men injured by gunfire Friday were hospitalized and have not been identified by police. Both men were wounded inside the house at 107 Devon St. before police arrived, Evans said during the press conference. It was not immediately clear what provoked that initial burst of violence.
Evans said five officers were involved and some of them were taken to a Boston hospital for evaluation.
“Being involved in a situation like this is very stressful,” Evans said. “I don’t think they could ever imagine what they walked into here.’’
The Friday morning confrontation between the man and police was fast and brutal, according to witnesses, police, and dispatch audio archived by Broadcastify.com.
“Drop the [expletive] gun!” an officer could be heard yelling on the dispatch audio, followed by a muffled thump.
“Shots fired! Shots,” the officer screams. “Shots fired, we got a suspect down! Officer involved shooting! We need help, we need help!”
More shouting can be heard on the audio, with officers screaming “Gun!” and “Drop the weapon! Show your hands!” as the dispatcher calls additional units to the scene.
Residents said they heard between six and eight shots. One person who declined to give his name and heard but did not see the shooting, said he heard police shouting for the man to drop the weapon, and then what he believed were two shots from the man’s gun.
The witness said he then heard about six or seven shots, which he believed to be return fire from officers. Police were unable to confirm this sequence of events.
Tamika Johnson, who lives nearby, said that after the shooting, she saw police enter 107 Devon St. with a battering ram and shields. She said she did not know who lived in the home.
She was rattled, she said, by the daytime shooting in a neighborhood where children walk.
A revolver was recovered at the scene, police said.
Resident Rohan Thomas was at work when the shooting happened, he said, but he rushed to the scene when his fiancee called him in a panic; the exchange of gunfire between the man and police had occurred right outside their front gate.
Thomas said his fiancee was about to head out the door to work when the shooting erupted, and she and their two children, ages 8 and 18, dove to the floor.
When his fiancee looked out the window, Thomas said, she saw bodies in the street.
“It’s not safe; it’s scary,” said Thomas, who said the neighborhood has grown dangerous and at night fills with men who drink on the streets. “When I sleep at night I think a bullet’s going to come through my window.”
This when crime is low and we are told the city is safe.
He stood anxiously outside the police tape on Columbia Road for more than an hour, waiting for police to let him comfort his fiancee inside their home, where the area in front had been turned into a crime scene.
Several clergy members arrived at the scene of the shooting Friday morning, including the Rev. Eugene F. Rivers III, who said the commissioner had called him. Rivers said the loss of life was a tragedy, but he believed police acted appropriately.
“We send our prayers to his family and commend the police,’’ Rivers said.
Maybe.
Maybe the black ministers (e's still a city leader?) have just thrown in with power.
Seems like a far cry from MLK and BLM.
Darnell Williams, president and CEO at the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, declined to comment on whether police acted justifiably because he had not yet seen or heard any evidence, but he said he had been invited by police officials to a debriefing meeting at police headquarters on Saturday.
The invitation, he said, was in keeping with the protocol the city has established for dealing with police-involved shootings, in which evidence is shared with community leaders almost immediately. There were two police-involved shootings in 2015 in which Boston police killed suspects, and in each case, video was shared with community leaders in the days afterward.
One of them involved the son of the local mosque that stirred up quit a bit of controversy.
“They’re being transparent and consistent,” Williams said.
Yeah, right.
--more--"
UPDATE: Community leaders view video of Friday’s fatal police-involved shooting
"Sister puzzled by events in fatal Dorchester shooting" by Jan Ransom Globe Staff February 15, 2016
The sister of the man fatally shot by police in Dorchester Friday said she found it hard to believe the allegations — that her 29-year-old brother, Peter Fanfan, had opened fire on Boston police officers while they were responding to a shooting.
“He wanted to get himself on his feet . . . [and] all of a sudden he’s going to pull a gun on police officers knowing all of the stuff going on with police nowadays? That doesn’t make any sense,” said Ruth Fanfan, 33, at her mother’s apartment in Jamaica Plain Sunday morning. “It’s kind of hard for me to swallow.”
Didn't she see the video?
--more--"
