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Mass. police shaken by man who beheaded sisters

By Jessica Van Sack
Boston Herald

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Man beheads sister; officers fatally shoot him

BOSTON — When Milton’s top cop arrived at the scene of Saturday evening’s massacre, he didn’t need words to tell him that his officers had witnessed the most unspeakable crime of their careers.

“I looked into the eyes of the police officer who was first on the scene - an 11-year-veteran - and it told me the whole story without words,” said Police Chief Richard G. Wells Jr.

That cop broke down the apartment’s door in time to witness Kerby Revelus, 23, decapitate his 5-year-old sister.

The preschooler’s birthday cake was still on the kitchen table. Samantha “Princesse” Revelus already had been fatally stabbed. Kerby was chasing Saraphina, who ran to a bedroom as police backup arrived. Four cops followed the knife-wielding Kerby - two of them shooting him to death.

“They’re yelling at him to get on the floor, get on the ground,” Wells said. “He didn’t comply.”

“The toughest thing is the innocent victims who were killed,” Wells said. “But the fact that they were there to see it in technicolor - it’s a lot for a human being to carry.”

The first four cops on the scene were treated by doctors at Milton Hospital.

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“I don’t know how many people today have articulated their heroism,” Wells said of those officers, who saved the life of 9-year-old Saraphina by shooting Kerby dead as he tried to kill her. “No matter what commendations they get, it’ll be a while before they realize the good that they did.”

Wells said he’s been moved by “the outpouring of human compassion” from the public.

“A police officer does such a difficult job because they often come into people’s lives on their worst day,” Wells said. “And this was the worst day.”

Copyright 2009 Boston Herald