DA: Police acted appropriately in fatally shooting man who'd just shot cop in the face and then kept firing

Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley said today that Boston police officers and a state trooper did nothing wrong when they shot Angelo West to death in an incident at Humboldt Avenue and Ruthven Street in Roxbury in March, 2015.

In a report released today, Conley added that Officer John Moynihan has yet to fully recover from his injuries from getting shot in the face and is still not back on duty.

In his report, Conley wrote:

[F]ollowing a lawful motor vehicle stop, during which no police officer had drawn a weapon or used any force, Angelo West shot Officer Moynihan in the face from point-blank range. Officer Moynihan was gravely injured. After shooting Officer Moynihan, West fled on foot and continued to fire his gun at other police officers. Officers Ball and Johnson and Trooper Cameron responded to the immediate threat of death to themselves and others and returned fire, inflicting fatal injuries to Mr. West. Under these circumstances, the law enforcement officers' firing of their guns was a reasonable and lawful exercise of self-defense and defense of others. Therefore, after a comprehensive examination of all the evidence in this case, I have determined that criminal charges against the officers and trooper are not warranted.

In addition to detailing the sources of his office's investigation - which included interviews and video from several surveillance cameras and even MBTA buses, Conley describes the events leading up to the shooting: After two reports of gunfire over the previous couple of days in the area, gang-unit detectives were staking out an alleged member of the H-Block gang, at the time involved in a shooting war with the Heath Street gang from JP, to try to prevent any bloodshed. When the gang member, identified as "John Doe," left his house and got into a Nissan Murano, he was accompanied by two men. And, Conley continued, two of the three grabbed their waistband areas and looked around as they walked - which police suspected meant they were carrying firearms - and which warranted following them in an unmarked car. When the car ran a stop sign in making a right onto Humboldt, the officers turned on their sirens and lights:

The Nissan failed to stop immediately, instead decelerating then accelerating over a distance of two to four blocks. The Nissan eventually pulled over and stopped at the intersection of Humboldt Avenue and Ruthven Street. The unmarked Crown Victoria driven by Officer Moynihan pulled behind the Nissan and the unmarked Caprice driven by Officer Conley pulled alongside, to prevent the Nissan from pulling away. ...

Officers Moynihan, Lewis and Johnson approached the stopped Nissan first. The second group, consisting of Officers Ball and Conley and Trooper Cameron, got out of their car and also began to approach the silver Nissan. All of the officers and trooper were in plain clothes with badges displayed. None of the officers had drawn their weapons. Angelo West was driving the silver Nissan, with John Doe in the front passenger seat and a third man in the rear passenger seat. The Nissan's windows were significantly tinted, preventing officers from seeing clearly inside. Officers Johnson and Lewis approached the rear passenger door, and Johnson immediately opened it to ensure that they could see inside. Officer Moynihan approached the driver's side door and asked West to step out of the car. Moynihan heard West state, "Sure, Officer." As Officer Moynihan opened the driver's door to allow West to step out of the car, West immediately raised his right arm, pointed a .357 caliber revolver within inches of Officer Moynihan's face, and shot him. Officer Moynihan was struck by a bullet in the right side of his face and immediately dropped to the ground. West moved away from the car and began to run across the street. While doing so, he pointed his gun in the direction of the officers and fired several times.

The other officers, hearing the gunfire and watching Moynihan drop to the ground, started firing at West:

Officer Ball fired a total of 16 rounds. Officer Johnson fired two rounds. Trooper Cameron fired six rounds. In the midst of the gunfire, Officer Lewis drew her weapon and successfully removed the two passengers from the Nissan and ordered them to the ground. Neither Officer Lewis nor Officer Conley fired.

Angelo West was struck by four bullets during the exchange of gunfire, and collapsed on the sidewalk in front of 207 Humboldt Avenue. Police immediately removed the Rossi .357 Magnum revolver from West’s hand and secured it. The revolver contained six empty shells in the cylinder. One of the wounds West suffered was a fatal gunshot to the head.