By Irene Rotondo
masslive.com
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The three Cambridge police officers and one police trainee involved in the fatal shooting of a man on Temple Street in August were found justified in their actions, according to the findings of a judicial inquest released alongside body camera footage, surveillance video and other materials from the incident.
The inquest into the actions of Cambridge Police Officers James Nestor, Saimon Teclezghi, Donald Conrad and trainee David Kerns was initiated on Aug. 24, three days after the shooting. Its findings and the report were released Friday by the Middlsex County District Attorney’s Office.
| SPECIAL REPORT: Where is your agency losing time?
A 64-year-old man named William Woodworth had been shot by both Nestor and Conrad in a parking lot on Temple Street at around 8 p.m. on Aug. 21, after a security guard at 675 Massachusetts Ave. called officers to report people loitering in a private parking lot behind the building.
The report found that Nestor and Conrad’s actions “were justified,” as their “decisions to fire their weapons were objectively reasonable,” the report read.
“Any reasonable police officer in their position would reasonably believe that both the officers and civilians were in imminent danger of being seriously injured or killed,” read the judicial inquest, signed by Justice Holly V. Broadbent.
What happened?
Nestor and Teclezghi were the first officers to arrive at the scene on Aug. 21, for the call of the suspected loiterers and spoke briefly with the security guard who called, according to the report.
Nestor and Teclezghi also watched live surveillance video of the parking lot where the people were standing, then went out to confront them. The report states the officers immediately recognized a woman and a man as “known drug users who are also homeless,” and believe the woman was smoking crack cocaine.
In this time, Cambridge Officer Conrad and trainee Kerns also responded to the scene after hearing radio transmissions about the 911 call, the report read.
After speaking with the woman in the parking lot, Conrad approached the passenger side of a nearby Jeep Compass and “immediately recognized the driver, William Woodworth , from two prior encounters” in which police had found a gun, crack cocaine and a double-sided machete in vehicles Woodworth was in. The case regarding the gun against him was dismissed due to the unconstitutionality of the police stop.
Conrad questioned Woodworth on his drug usage inside the car — which Woodworth denied — then asked Woodworth to step outside of the car, the report read.
But as Woodworth got out, he “slid his right hand under the driver’s seat” and pulled out a gun, the report read. Conrad told Woodworth to “leave that there” and ordered Woodworth to put the gun down three times, the report read.
However, Woodworth ignored his commands, turned left as he exited the car and pointed the firearm at trainee Kerns with both hands, who had approached the driver’s side door in this time.
Kerns immediately grabbed Woodworth’s arms to disarm Woodworth and Conrad “simultaneously fired his weapon at Woodworth” six times through the lowered passenger side window. Nestor, “upon hearing the commotion, turned toward Woodworth and shot Woodworth one time” from the driver’s side of the Jeep .
Despite first aid from the officers, Woodworth was pronounced dead at the scene from five gunshot wounds — one to the head, one to the shoulder and three to the back, according to the report.
Woodworth’s history of psychosis
A subsequent investigation was led by Trooper John Jakobowski of the Massachusetts State Police Homicide Unit for the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office. During this, detectives collected video footage from nearby businesses, the involved officers’ body camera footage and recorded statements, along with ballistic evidence and the gun from inside the Jeep .
The bystanders were also interviewed, and one confirmed officers had arrived in the parking lot and Woodworth lunged at an officer with what they believed was a gun.
Woodworth’s mother, sister and estranged wife told officers he had been diagnosed with psychosis and bipolar disorder following a traumatic brain injury he had in a car accident at the age of 18.
He had been hospitalized multiple times throughout his adult life due to his mental health and had “on occasion been violent when he combined his prescribed medications with alcohol and illegal narcotics,” the report read.
“Woodworth on one occasion told his sister that the best way to die would be to point a gun at someone else,” the report read.
Broadbent’s findings were accepted by Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan , who has filed a certificate stating that in the Superior Court which therefore “closes this matter,” according to her office.
The report was also send to the Cambridge Police Department for “whatever internal review and action the Department may deem appropriate,” Ryan’s office said.
The Cambridge Police Department stated it was “grateful for the professionalism, courage, and training demonstrated by the officers involved.”
“Their response under extraordinarily difficult circumstances was instrumental in preventing an already dangerous encounter from resulting in further serious injury or loss of life,” a Cambridge police spokesperson said.
“We are grateful that the responding officers were not seriously injured and recognize the significant and lasting impact an incident of this nature can have on those involved. The Department remains committed to supporting the officers and ensuring they have the resources they need in the days and months ahead,” it stated.
The police department also acknowledged the impact Woodworth’s death has had on his family and loved ones as it acknowledged the review’s findings.
©2026 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit masslive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
