By O’RYAN JOHNSON
Copyright 2005 Boston Herald Inc.
A Boston cop driving his young daughter to their Mattapan home yesterday afternoon turned the corner into a brazen gunfight and stepped out of his car to intervene, only to have one of the guns turned on him.
The veteran patrolman shot the gunman in the foot or leg as the others fled, police said.
He and his daughter escaped injury during the 5 p.m. shootout at the corner of Evelyn Street and Blue Hill Avenue.
“The officer was returning home and witnessed two individuals discharging firearms,” said police Superintendent Robert Dunford. “When he confronted them, one of the suspects turned his gun on the officer.”
Police said the officer’s daughter was being cared for by her mother. The injured gunman was taken to Boston Medical Center with a non-life-threatening wound and was placed under arrest.
The police officer, whose name and district assignment were not released, was undergoing stress tests last night at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Police said the other men involved in the shooting remained at large.
Those working nearby described hearing rapid gunfire followed by police sirens. A woman working at New York Dry Cleaners near the shooting scene said she and her 7-year-old daughter were inside the shop when the shooting erupted.
“All I heard was pop, pop, pop, pop,” said Sun, who would not give her last name. “This is not good. There’s too much violence.”
Dunford said the patrolman was off-duty.
Police Superintendent Bobbie Johnson said the officer will be placed on administrative duty pending a preliminary investigation into the shooting.
SHOOTING: Police survey the scene of a shooting yesterday in Mattapan. Staff photo by Douglas McFadd
December 1, 2005