2 Hub cops at party where man slain
Evans, Walsh say pair were off-duty
Two off-duty Boston police officers were among dozens of guests at a wild weekend bikini bash in Lynnfield, where a 33-year-old Randolph father of two was shot dead early Sunday morning.
“I’m sure these two young ladies didn’t go there thinking there was going to be a shooting,” Boston police Commissioner William B. Evans said yesterday, referring to the officers. “They went to a party in their off-duty capacity, socially. I’m sure if they knew what was going to happen they wouldn’t be there. But unfortunately a shooting took place.”
Keivan Heath, a mechanic, was killed on the grounds of the gated $3.35 million estate on Needham Road.
His killer remains at-large.
The two police officers are cooperating with investigators and remain on duty.
“We don’t know whether they were there when the shooting happened,” Evans said. “They’ve been contacted and are working with authorities to find out what happened.”
The Bureau of Professional Standards is handling an internal Boston police investigation, Evans said.
“Again, it had nothing to do with their official capacity,” he said.
Asked when the officers notified authorities that they had attended the party, Evans said, “That’s part of the investigation.”
Mayor Martin J. Walsh also defended the officers yesterday.
“The two officers who were at the party did nothing wrong,” he said. “They went to a party. You know, it’s a free country. They went to a party — anyone can go to any party they want. They were not involved in the incident and I think that characterizing that as something the police officers did as wrong is wrong. They did nothing wrong here.”
The murder is under investigation by state police and Lynnfield police.
The Boston Police Department is also cooperating with those agencies as part of the ongoing investigation, the department said in a statement.
Homeowner Alex Styller said he was not aware two cops were among the partygoers.
He had rented the property out for the Memorial Day weekend for what he had been told was a college reunion. Styller said there was not supposed to be more than two dozen guests; however, police told him there were as many as 100.
A relative of the victim reached at the family’s Randolph home said they are “frustrated” because they have not received any new information about the case from police. He declined further comment.
State police told the Herald the case is ongoing. Police have not released a description of the suspect.