Hey, there! Log in / Register

Two cops shot in East Boston gun battle; suspect dead

Updated, 8:50 a.m., Thursday.

Two Boston Police officers were critically injured in a gunfight that broke out when they responded to a domestic-violence call around 10:50 p.m. at 136 Gladstone St.

The Herald reports the suspect, Kirk Figueroa, 33, of East Boston, opened fire on the officers with an assault-style rifle - and was wearing body armor.

Police returned fire and killed Figueroa, whose body was recovered from the building's basement.

Audio of the gunfire.

Police report Thursday morning the two officers are both out of surgery and remain in critical condition.

Nearby residents were asked to shelter in place as Boston and State Police sweep the area for additional possible suspects, although by 11:50 p.m., police determined there were no other suspects and lifted the request.

As it does with all officer-involved shootings, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office has launched an investigation.

Neighborhoods: 
Topics: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

As you saw, adam.. I saw this on Twitter.

I also heard the dragnet of Chelsea PD heading over to Eastie. They must have called every avaliable unit over to Eastie. They all flew down Central Ave very very fast. I'm near the Chelsea Street bridge which is the best way to get to Gladstone Street in Eastie from Chelsea

Still lots of noise off in the distance.. lots of sirens.

up
Voting closed 0

Just heard a chopper fly by over in Medford near 93 going south. Hope they find the bastard.

up
Voting closed 0

WHDH (Channel 7 in Boston) has stayed with the story as has Fox 25. Shame on WCVB and WBZ - they switched to their 11:30 programming after reporting the shooting. Channel 7 has the best information with Cheryl Fiandaca working her contacts within BPD. Thoughts and prayers to the officers. By Cheryl's report, their injuries are not considered to be life-threatening.

up
Voting closed 0

They were signing off and broke in with the story and kept with it with informed reporting, as SBer noted.

I only turned it off when they reported officers should be OK.

Well done Gaffin too, as usual. UH had the story right there with TV news.

Thoughts are with the officers and their families.

up
Voting closed 0

Cop sirens blaring through East Boston up the highway , Gladstone street East Boston , always has been a peaceful quiet neighborhood with single family homes mostly occupied by Italians, my first reaction was did someone in the house have an argument over a bowl of pasta!!

up
Voting closed 0

I happened to catch some of the FOX coverage before bed. It was a lot of "we don't any thing but let's tell you for the 50th time what we do know". Was useful for someone just tuning in, but not worth sitting and watching. Any of the 4 stations could have broken into regular programming when new information came in...

up
Voting closed 0

I just assumed it was another fire down the street...10+ sirens in a few minutes coming fast down Bennington.

Glad the bridge was down for them to get over here...seems to usually be in the up position whenever I hear people talk about it.

up
Voting closed 0

Hoping for the best. Sounds like they're ok, hopefully.

Calling friends now to insure they're not working.

up
Voting closed 0

Sad East Boston trending for such horrible reasons tonight. Eastie is better than this, lived here >6 yrs. Hope officers are ok.

up
Voting closed 0

I was on my way home from work knew something was definitely going down when I saw 10 cops fly by me on 1A and when there were police from different departments all over the place. Once I saw the chopper I feared for the worse. Stay safe folks

up
Voting closed 0

Kirk Figueroa 33 of East Boston as reported by Boston Herald

up
Voting closed 0

Guy was a Constable in MA and a licensed bounty hunter/bailbondsman.

up
Voting closed 0

This is really sad and disturbing at the same time. Although it probably leaves both sides of the Black Lives Matter/Blue Lives Matter divide a little hamstrung. It does, however, clearly indict our security-state loving culture of guns, bounty-hunter reality shows and machismo butt-hurt; not to mention the lack of mental health services for veterans - although unclear in this case that it would do much for this guy. He seemed to be pretty highly functioning, which in our society could mean totally socio/psychopathic -- but ya fit right in!

up
Voting closed 0

I live a few blocks away from the scene and there were what seem like bazillion of police vehicles, helicopters, etc. Everything short of tanks. I suspect the police response was so massive because they knew (or figured out right away) that this guy was highly militarized (if that's a word). A sad commentary on our current state of affairs from all sides.

up
Voting closed 0

Do you want to use your same comment about the rapist in the Back Bay hating Chinese people? I'm sorry, but I'm getting sick and tired of news articles about violent crime saying ".....described as black...." Make the Black Lives Matter movement seem to be losing its grip. Okay, watch out for all the counter comments now!

up
Voting closed 0

Not sure what you're saying, but in case I was unclear (happens more often than not) I'm not pinning this on BLM or saying it's any sort of reflection of that non-violent movement. In fact, looking at this guy's bio I'd guess he'd probably not be much of a fan of BLM -- but I have no clue about that. The point was this case is not easily held up by BLM (the police didn't enter with guns blazing -- which is why two of them got nearly killed) nor the pro-Thin Blue Line types (the guy was a law & order type not what they would consider a "thug").

At any rate, hopefully the two cops make a full recovery and those that were traumatized by all of this get any help they made need. I imagine that this could have been a lot worse.

up
Voting closed 0

It doesn't indict anything. It just shows that the kind of person who likes to have power over others and use violence is attracted to careers that let him satisfy those desires.

up
Voting closed 0

...and perhaps careers in that field should be something that is in the hands of entities that are answerable to the public and not run out of an apartment in Eastie. We don't have bail bondsmen in Massachusetts anymore and there's a good reason for that. "Para-policing" is really not much different from "para-military." Sadly this kind of crap is way too attractive to any number of desperate folks feeling impotent and looking to protect our nation's "precious bodily fluids."

up
Voting closed 0

I think you only got half my point. This guy was a law enforcement officer in addition to being a bail bondsman. Both sides are guilty of attracting this type of person.

up
Voting closed 0