By Laurel J. Sweet and Lisa Hornak
The Boston Herald
REVERE, Mass. — Authorities investigating the death of Revere Police Officer Daniel Talbot are scouring security video that appears to have captured key moments just before he was shot, sources tell the Herald.
The tape does not show the actual shooting but shows a group of young men crossing a field in the direction of Talbot and his friends.
The images were recorded by a camera near a ballpark behind Revere High School, where the off-duty 30-year-old gang unit cop was fatally shot early Saturday morning in front of his fiancee Constance Bethell, 28, and fellow officers who’d been enjoying a night out.
Law enforcement officials and sources would not say last night why the off-duty group was behind the high school.
No arrests had been made as of early last night, but sources said the officers had a confrontation with at least one young man, who threatened to return with friends. The tape appears to show at least three young men later walking toward the officers. It does not show Talbot being shot and it remained unclear last night who did the shooting.
Neither Revere nor state police released any new information about the tragedy yesterday. Jake Wark, spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley, said investigators were “awaiting final autopsy results and reviewing a broad range of evidence and potential evidence before making any further comment.”
Talbot and Bethell, who shared a home in Salem with two Jack Russell terriers, Rocko and Louie, were to be marriedOct. 4, 2008, according to Talbot’s grief-stricken partner, patrolman David Caramanica.
“We rode together every day for five years,” Caramanica said. “You knew he had your back and you didn’t have to worry about anything in the world. It was always comforting to know Danny was in the car.”
Caramanica said he was not with Talbot when he was killed, but the two men had tickets to see the Patriots [team stats] play the Cowboys in DallasOct. 14 and were so excited they spoke of little else in the past month. Talbot’s mother, Mary Patricia Talbot of New Hampshire, was making funeral arrangements for her son yesterday and declined to comment.
Friend Lynda McKinnon called Talbot “a well-respected man. It’s a shame that he got cheated out of his life. He was devoted to his work, to his fiancee and to his family. He had everything going for him.”
Patrolman Charles Patch said Talbot was a regular at his home on Christmas Eve. He said Talbot played goalie for the Revere High hockey team and had served in the Army. “Too young, too tragic,” Patch said. “It’s devastating.”
Flowers lay yesterday on the windshield of Talbot’s black SUV, parked in front of the Revere Police Department’s memorial to fallen officers.
“He was one of the hardest working officers here,” Lt. John Goodwin said. “Hard working, dedicated.”
Copyright 2007 The Boston Herald