Police officers targeted in Missouri, Massachusetts
BOSTON — A Massachusetts police officer and bystander died Sunday from wounds sustained when a suspect allegedly took the officer’s gun and fired following a vehicle crash and foot chase.
And in Kansas City, Mo., on Sunday, police fatally shot a man suspected of shooting and wounding three police officers, authorities said.
The Massachusetts shooting took place in the town of Weymouth, where officer Michael Chesna was shot multiple times with his own firearm. An unidentified elderly woman also died after being hit by stray bullets in a nearby home, authorities said.
Weymouth Police Chief Richard Grimes said the shooting suspect, 20-year-old Emanuel Lopes, was in custody.
Police say the suspect crashed a car, fled the scene, and was later discovered by Chesna allegedly vandalizing a home. Prosecutors say that’s when he attacked Chesna with a rock to the head. Chesna fell to the ground, and officials said Lopes took the officer’s gun and shot Chesna multiple times in the head and chest.
Lopes will be arraigned on two counts of homicide on Monday.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said on Twitter that his thoughts were with the families of the officer and bystander.
Grimes described Chesna, 42, as an Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran who leaves behind a wife and two children, ages 4 and 9.
“He always had a kind word and a good attitude,” said Grimes.
Chesna’s body was removed from the hospital and transported via procession of multiple law enforcement agencies to the state’s medical examiner office in Boston. Dozens of police, some tight-lipped and others crying, somberly saluted the vehicle carrying the officer’s body, and mourners placed bouquets by the Weymouth Police Headquarters, now draped in black bunting.
In Kansas City, all three wounded officers are expected to survive. The suspect died after barricading himself in a house. He emerged from the home and was killed in an exchange of gunfire, police Chief Rick Smith said.
Police spokesman Sgt. Jacob Becchina said the first two officers were shot during an undercover operation at a motel. The suspect then fled in a vehicle with another person, who was arrested when officers found the vehicle.
The suspect barricaded himself inside a home about a mile from the motel. He shot the third officer in the arm during the standoff, Smith said.
The suspect was a person of interest in the fatal shooting of a college student during a robbery earlier this month.