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Police: Man went berserk with a hammer in South Boston until a cop took aim at him with a beanbag gun

The alleged hammer. Photo by BPD.

Boston Police report officers subdued and arrested a man who used a hammer to attack several businesses and two vehicles Sunday afternoon.

Police say officers responded to 738 E. Broadway around 4:30 p.m. to find John Connolly, 52, swinging a hammer, "yelling incoherently" and bleeding from the head as a crowd warily encircled him:

Officers immediately attempted to set a perimeter around him to prevent injury to the onlookers. The suspect charged at several of the officers, swinging the hammer towards them causing them to tactically retreat to cover behind their police cruisers while still maintaining a level of containment of the suspect. Officers gave several verbal commands for the suspect to drop the knife but he did not comply, continuing to swing the hammer, even shattering a window pane of a local business. A sergeant on scene, who was armed with a less lethal bean bag shotgun, raised it towards the suspect who had turned to charge towards him. Upon seeing the shotgun pointed directly at him, the suspect suddenly dropped the hammer to the ground and officers were able to place him in custody after a violent struggle.

As he was being transported to a local hospital for treatment and observation, officers found "numerous buildings and a motor vehicle" had been damaged by his hammer, police say.

Connolly faces five counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and four counts of malicious destruction of property.

Innocent, etc.

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Comments

Officers gave several verbal commands for the suspect to drop the *knife* but he did not comply, continuing to swing the *hammer*...

Something's gone wrong there. But commend the officers for resolving without injury.

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Until all these townies are gone so we can have a respectable neighborhood. Enough of this junkie nonsense.

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Can't wait for yuppies like you to have a kid or two and move out to the suburbs.

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Yuppie families are staying. Just take a walk on Broadway on a weekend morning.

In 15 years there are going to be a bunch of yuppies teenagers saying...SoBo is my hometown!

- The Original SoBo Yuppie

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Where newcomers make blanket statements about hardworking folks who've raised their families in this beautiful, previously tight knit, community; all the while keeping their children away from drugs and violence by providing them with a solid moral construct. Pretty soon we'll hear Aretha Franklin's R.E.S.P.E.C.T blaring from roof decks as 20 somethings drink every night of the week and wake up still giving zero shits about their neighborhood because they are living here strictly out of convenience.
"We can take 4 minute Uber rides to all the bars AND the beach! My parents won't mind paying $1200 for a bedroom because they love me and I love Sobo!"

Honestly how horribly entitled do you have to be to type something like that without thinking twice about it? You are part of the problem...

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Though, I think we can all agree that a guy swinging around a hammer in your neighborhood is a bad thing no matter where you live, and the condition of said neighborhood would improve if there was not a man swinging a hammer around causing damage.

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Just a reminder that you're sticking up for the crazy guy with a hammer.

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I almost fell out of my chair when I read this:

...about hardworking folks who've raised their families in this beautiful, previously tight knit, community; all the while keeping their children away from drugs and violence by providing them with a solid moral construct"

Beautiful? South Boston was a dump before the yuppies came in.
keeping kids away from drugs? Right. No one OD'd in South Boston.
and violence? Do you really need me to list examples?
solid moral strucutre? LOL.

Now, I know for a fact that there are great, brilliant life long residents of South Boston (some of my neighbors are) but to think South Boston was some utopia before the yuppies came in is just naive or ignorant.

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All you do is troll Uhub trying to piss people off, but I can't let this comment slide without putting you in your place.
My comment was in response to a blanket statement saying Sourhie will somehow magically become a respectable neighborhood once all the "townies" are gone. I never even remotely claimed that everyone from here is an angel.
Take a walk from the JFK Library to Castle Island and tell me how much one of the most beautiful stretches in the entire city has changed since gentrification began (hint: it hasn't).
Yes Southie had and still has a serious drug problem; my point was there are plenty of kids who grew up surrounded by that plague who didn't get caught up and are now stronger because of it. Unlike heinously entitled or downright rude people like you who like to point that out like its some sour South Boston phenomenon; the entire state of Massachusetts has been hit by an opioid epidemic dating back to the 90s.
"Townies" along with the small percentage of people who have moved here, lived here for many years, and perhaps even raised a family here, are the only lasting representation of this community. FYI Communities are places where people actually care about their neighborhood.
In closing, go back under your bridge and find someone else to hate because I won't waste anymore time on your nonsensical bullshit.

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"Take a walk from the JFK Library to Castle Island and tell me how much one of the most beautiful stretches in the entire city has changed since gentrification began (hint: it hasn't)."

How about the area around the Broadway T Stop? Did that change at all? Yuppies have anything to do with it?

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The parking lot/pub that's now a Subway chain restaurant, a Starbucks, and Stephi's (not as good as) on Newbury? Actually Quietman steak tips were pretty friggin delicious; and to be honest I preferred having a Church and a GED education center in that area instead of condos, apartments, and more condos and apartments... and some extra condos and apartments. I must say Social Wines is a pretty nice addition though. Please, continue digging yourself deeper into your hole of hate if you'd like.

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Soboyuppie, I'm pretty sure the utopia you describe is the reason you came here in the first place. Yes, it was a preexisting condition. Sorry, you lose.

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to the bank after converting Ma's three decker into condos and selling to dip shit yuppies, who with the 8 feet of snow and no parking this past winter, fiinally figured out they are dumber than they look.

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Knocko and Blockhead immediately spent it all on heroin and overdosed already.

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You know, not everybody sold "ma's" three decker. Most of us bought our own and haven't sold out. Keep believing your own simplistic narrative.

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Hate to imagine what kind of loathsome sentiments you'll express when you deign to gentrify Roxbury.

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Seriously, you and everyone who responded to you? You're all bucking hard for that "useless fucking person" forehead tattoo. This is stupid and pointless.

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look at the tattoo in the mirror "nosrep gnikcuf sselesu".

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When someone points out that you've got spinach on their teeth, it doesn't mean that they do too. Making stupid comments about yuppies and townies is not the same thing as pointing out the stupidity of said comments.

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And yet here you are. Where do you live again? NH? VT?

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are the biggest haters and bigots. This post shows how much hatred you have for the people that you live with. Next time you get a booger in your bagel you will know why.

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Sweeping generalizations, threats, and a boston accent spelled out. All you had to do was mention bikes or space savers and I could have completed my daily UHub BINGO just with your comment. Better luck next time.

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carry man purses and wear skinny jeans is no reflection on the kinds of people they are. I must admit the super moms in training, 365 day yoga pants aren't a blight on the neighborhoods of Boston.

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Don't give a guy a chance to hammer out love between his brothers and his sisters all over this land.

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a hammer than a nail.

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Detox and stay out of home depot.

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OK, pretty lame, I know....

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I'm glad to know the Boston police are finally using non-lethal weapons. On the other hand, "knife" ...just, wow. I know, freudian slip, but it makes me wonder, are police these days being taught at the academy to literally always make a reference to a suspect wielding a knife ? I can imagine this bizarre phenomenon eventually becoming so common that its banality forces the police to adopt an even scarier menace word, maybe "hammer" for instance.

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What a tool!

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Why Hammerin' John Connolly gets a beanbag,
while Stabby Santos Lavoy got a bullet?

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BPD vs cops and BU police. And second, uh...hammer vs knife. And third--known violent guy who's directly threatening people and doesn't obey orders to drop his weapon vs idiot with a hammer who does eventually drop said hammer when there's a gun pointed at him.

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......many witnesses.

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ADDICTION AND MENTAL HEALTH IS SERIOUS BUSINESS SO TAKE IT EASY WITH THE COMMENT PLEASE THANK YOU TIM WALSH

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Thumbs up to the police for using restraint while at the same time protecting themselves and the public. Thumbs down to the ignorant person who made a junkie comment. Grow up.

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