Dracut man killed by cops eyed in string of carjackings
A man fatally shot by police after a carjacking and stabbing was identified as Thomas Murray, 31, of Dracut, who may have been involved in as many as three carjackings, an Essex District Attorney’s office spokeswoman said.
Officials on Sunday said police were investigating the stabbing of an employee and a car theft at knifepoint at the Tulley Automotive Group on Daniel Webster Highway in Nashua, N.H.
The stolen SUV, a black 2020 BMW X5 M with no license plates, had an onboard location system, and BMW was able to track it as it drove on Interstate 95 and then pulled off the highway and into Prime Gas Station on Central Street in Newbury, said Carrie Kimball, a spokeswoman for the Essex DA.
At the gas station, State Police and local officers used their cruisers to box in the suspect vehicle, and approached the suspect, who rammed a State Police cruiser and was shot by police, Kimball said.
Police administered first aid at the scene. Murray was later pronounced dead after transport to Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport.
No police were injured in the shooting.
Investigators have linked Murray to two carjackings and possibly a third, Kimball said. The suspect arrived at the Nashua, N.H., dealership in a Subaru Legacy that had been reported carjacked from a woman in Lowell about two hours earlier.
Lowell Police Capt. James Hodgdon said the victim told police she was inside her vehicle at about 3 p.m. when a white male opened her car door and told her to get out, Hodgdon said. The victim got out with her pocketbook, he said, but the suspect grabbed it after a struggle.
The suspect fled the scene with the stolen car and was last seen on Route 3 headed north, Hodgdon said. The Lowell Police Department announced the crime to the Massachusetts and New Hampshire State Police, telling them to be on the lookout for the suspect and the stolen vehicle.
Hodgdon said the suspect was wanted for carjacking, unarmed robbery and assault and battery of a person 60 or older.
Police located the vehicle stolen from Lowell in Nashua, Kimball said.
At about 3:35 p.m. Saturday, North Andover Police responded to a reported carjacking on Route 114, she said. The owner of an Audi Q5 reported that his wife and 5-year-old child were waiting in the vehicle while he was in Starbucks. A white male, later identified as
Murray, entered the driver’s side of the vehicle and yelled at the victim to get out of the car, Kimball said. The victim got out with her child, she said, and Murray drove off with the car, heading westbound on Route 114. No weapon was shown, Kimball said. Items recovered at the scene and witness statements led to Murray being identified almost immediately, she said.
The vehicle was involved in a police pursuit in Canton at about 6:30 a.m. on Sunday and was later recovered in Lexington, Kimball said.
Police are investigating whether the same suspect is potentially connected to a theft of a vehicle in Boston on Saturday.