Officials probe Saturday’s shooting near high school
By Maria Cramer
The Boston Gobe
REVERE, Mass. — Investigators were awaiting the results of an autopsy performed by state medical examiners yesterday on Revere police Officer Dan Talbot to help determine who fatally shot him early Saturday behind the city’s high school, a spokesman for the Suffolk District Attorney’s office said yesterday.
The results are expected to reveal what type of bullet killed Talbot, said Jake Wark, spokesman for Daniel F. Conley.
No one had been arrested in connection with the shooting as of yesterday evening, Wark said.
Authorities have released little information about the officer’s death. They have refused to say whether any officers were with Talbot, who was a member of the gang unit, or if he was on duty when someone shot him in the parking lot of Revere High School. Wark declined last night to say whether authorities believed Talbot was shot by another officer or by gang members.
“It’s simply too early to tell,” Wark said. “We’ll have to await the results of an autopsy and ballistics evidence to make any kind of determination.”
Wark did say that police had interviewed “a number of people” who were at the scene when Talbot was shot and were seeking others. He declined to elaborate.
Several state troopers returned to the scene and scoured the baseball field near the parking lot, the area where the officer was shot once in the head.
His mother, Patty Talbot, said she knew nothing about the investigation and was troubled by speculation she had heard in media reports. She described her son, the oldest of three children, as a kind man who had always wanted to be a police officer and was excited about his wedding planned for next October to his longtime girlfriend, Connie Bethell.
“He had a heart of gold and always wanted to help people,” Talbot said in a telephone interview from her home in New Hampshire. “He’s dearly missed by so many, so many people.”
He will be buried Saturday in Cambridge, next to his aunt and uncle, Talbot said. A wake will be held Friday; a funeral, Saturday.
“I loved him very much,” she said.
City officials and friends of Talbot said they were anxious for answers about his shooting.
“Without question, we’re looking for answers to find out what’s going on,” said Councilor Bob Haas. “It doesn’t make too much sense.”
Councilor George Rotondo said he wanted the city to offer a $100,000 reward for anyone with information about who shot Talbot. But he said he understood why investigators had revealed few details.
“I think the DA wants to make sure that nothing is left unturned,” he said. “I think that he wants to have a thorough investigation.”
At the parking lot yesterday, a single red rose and a bouquet of orange and yellow Gerber daisies were placed on a chain-link fence near the bleachers.
Mike Silvestri, who said he was a friend of Talbot, drove by the parking lot and peered at the police tape that still hung from trees and bleachers.
“I’d like to know what happened because something doesn’t seem right,” he said. “I hope they catch whoever did it.”
City and school officials said surveillance cameras are set up at the high school, but they were unsure what they captured or whether they were trained on the area where Talbot was shot. Asked about the cameras, Wark said only that “investigators are analyzing a wide variety of evidence.”
A manager at Margaritas, a restaurant on American Legion Highway near the high school, said Talbot had been there the night of the shooting, but did not elaborate.
WCVB-TV reported yesterday that Mayor Thomas G. Ambrosino of Revere confirmed that Talbot and his fiancée were at Margaritas bar in Revere and somehow ended up behind the high school with several other police officers.
In the hours after the shooting, State Police canvassed the city in cars and helicopters. They spent hours on Thornton Street, which they closed off, startling residents who said they were not told why their neighborhood was targeted.
“It was unbelievable,” said Jody Keth, 20, who lives in a three-decker on Thornton Street, where he said officers patted down residents and asked them who they were. “It was harassment.”
Talbot, a 1995 Revere High School graduate, studied criminal law at Salem State College. He and Bethell had recently moved to Salem, where they had bought a two-bedroom town house.
According to the couple’s website, they planned to wed at the Davensport Yacht Club.
“I’m just a girl in this world loving life at the moment, looking forward to marrying the man who has been with me for the past eight years,” Bethell wrote on her MySpace page.
Talbot’s MySpace website was still up last night, and several friends had posted messages in memory of him. Still on his page was a list of officers killed in the line of duty across the country.
Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com. Peter Schworm of the Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent Courtney R. Brooks contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 The Boston Globe