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Posted by: kwflatbed

By Maria Cramer and Justin Aucoin,

Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent |

December 1, 2005


A veteran patrolman yesterday shot a man who turned his firearm on the officer on a Mattapan street, Boston police said.

The patrolman, a 12-year-member of the force whose name was withheld, shot the man in the left foot after the suspect and another armed man approached him on Evelyn Street near Blue Hill Avenue, said Police Superintendent Bobbie Johnson.
The officer was treated for stress at a local hospital, and the suspect, who also was not identified, was taken to Boston Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries, police said.

The shooting occurred near an intersection where Brandon Patterson, 17, was shot and killed on Nov. 14, one of 66 homicides in the city this year. Yesterday's gunfire rattled people near Blue Hill Avenue, including state Representative Shirley Owens-Hicks, a Mattapan Democrat who stopped by the scene on her way from a speaking engagement at a local university.

''We're fortunate no one was killed," Owens-Hicks said. ''That's a blessing. Every time we lose a person or lose a life, we leave a hole in the community."

About 5 p.m., the off-duty officer, who was in full uniform, was driving on Evelyn Street toward Norfolk Street when he saw a group of individuals shooting at one another, Johnson said. After the officer left his vehicle, one of the men aimed his gun at the officer, forcing the officer to shoot at the man, Johnson said.

''We're not trained to shoot at the foot. We're trained to shoot at the center mass," Johnson said, pointing to his chest. ''In the heat of the moment, you never know where the bullet is going to go."

The second man fled the scene, but his firearm was recovered, Johnson said.

Johnson said police did not want to name the officer or give any identifying details about him for fear of retribution.

Monique Brown, 39, a Dorchester mother who identified herself as a witness to the scene, said she did not believe the suspect, whom she identified as a teenager, was armed.

Brown said she saw three teenagers on Blue Hill Avenue near Evelyn Street and the officer. She said she saw the officer tell the suspects to freeze. One of the teenagers put his hands up in the air, but then tried to scale a nearby fence to flee. She said that is when the officer shot him.

''He didn't have a gun," Brown said of the suspect. ''He put both hands up."

Asked about Brown's allegations, Officer John Boyle, a police spokesman, said ''it's under investigation."

Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.

© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.

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