The Lowell Sun
FITCHBURG — Fitchburg police officers were justified in the Oct. 13 shooting that killed a Gardner woman who was allegedly involved in a robbery with a Billerica woman, according to Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr.
Leslie M. Moore, 40, of 52 Hemlock Drive, Apt. 201, Gardner, was shot twice by police as she “ignored the police officers’ warnings and continued to ram police cruisers endangering the lives of police officers, the public as well as her passenger,” Early said in a prepared statement.
“The actions of Ms. Moore left the officers no choice,” Early said.
Moore, who drove the getaway car, and another woman, 40-year-old Jannine O’Connor of Billerica, allegedly robbed Ray’s Variety at the corner of River and Norwood streets, then led police on a chase through multiple communities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire before the chase ultimately came to an end on Heywood Street, as police attempted to stop her following a crash.
Officers Todd Deacon and Joaquin Kilson fired a total of four shots and hit Moore in the neck and torso, according to the statement.
Deacon and Kilson had been on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
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