At around 5:15 p.m. on June 24, a 19-year old man was shot multiple times and killed by two Boston police officers in Dorchester. Many details of the incident are still unknown, however the press conference testimony given by Boston Police Commissioner William Gross is being used as the primary source of information on the matter. Reporters for Liberation News went to the scene of the police killing and interviewed residents to try to learn the truth, and heard accounts that contradict the narrative being promoted by Commissioner Gross.
Gross claimed that officers were deployed to Towne Field in Dorchester after reports of an apparent shooting, but the Commissioner later divulged that no one was shot in the park. Rather, someone sustained minor injuries while trying to scale a fence.
Gross went on to state that two officers on bicycles began pursuing two young men who were allegedly running from the park and eventually caught up to one.
There have been contradictory reports regarding the nature of the shooting. It is being widely reported, based on the Commissioner’s statement, that the 19-year-old victim was in possession of a gun and fired at the two officers who pursued him. One resident of the neighborhood told Liberation News that he heard the entire exchange between the police officers and the victim. The resident said he heard officers yelling at the victim to “shut the f–k up” repeatedly before firing at least eight gunshots. The resident did not hear the officers command the victim to drop any weapon. Another resident insisted that he was informed that the victim dropped his weapon while running.
Officers blocked off a wide area surrounding the scene of the shooting. Liberation News witnessed heavily armed SWAT and K-9 officers patrolling the vicinity and searching multiple yards without informing the occupants. A number of these officers were smiling and laughing. The victim’s body was moved to a coroner’s van at 8:32 p.m., roughly three hours after he was killed. Commissioner Gross stated that officers performed first aid on the victim until Boston EMS arrived, although witnesses reported that no ambulance appeared on the scene, and that the victim’s body was covered within ten minutes of the shooting.
The Boston Police Department called a press conference at 9:00 p.m. on June 24. Two Liberation News reporters were initially admitted into the media room at BPD Headquarters, but were removed by an officer minutes before the press conference began. The officer questioned the reputability of the reporters. Other members of the press in attendance expressed concern and called such an action unprecedented.
Although Commissioner Gross presented his report as factual, the details of the case are still largely unclear. BPD is not a neutral party in this incident, and its report has been disputed. Liberation News will continue to report on this situation as more evidence surfaces in the coming days and weeks.
