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Police: Hyde Park man shot cop point blank

Angelo West

Police Commissioner William Evans today identified the man fatally shot in a confrontation with officers at Humboldt Avenue and Ruthven Street last night as Angelo West, 41, of Hyde Park.

Police say West had a long and violent record. He was convicted of shooting at a Boston officer and a state trooper in the Theater District in 2001: His first shot missed and then his gun jammed.

At a morning press conference, Evans said police have "excellent video" showing that Officer John Moynihan was shot in the face in "a completely unprovoked attack." He said Moynihan remains in critical condition.

Evans said gang-unit officers pulled up behind West's car at Ruthven and Humboldt, with their blue lights going, then got out with their badges on display, but their guns holstered.

Moynihan approached the driver's side door and West got out, raised his arm and fired right into Moynihan's face, Evans said. Then, Evans said, West tried running away, firing his gun as he ran.

"None [of the officers] had their guns drawn, all of them were approaching the vehicle in a respectful way, I would suggest," Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley said. Conley said his office will conduct an investigation into the incident and promised a "completely transparent" report.

Evans acknowledged there had been reports of gunfire in the area an hour or two before, but said he did not know if the officers pulled over West's car as part of their investigation into that.

Evans said his officers are trained to use their guns only as an absolute last resort. "It's a tough job and our officers did what they had to do," he said.

The Rev. Mark Scott of Azusa Christian Community Church, also spoke, and denounced what he called the "nearly assassination-style shooting" of the officer. Although he said his prayers are with both the officer and West's family, he added, "We condemn the behavior of the man who was involved in the shooting."

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Comments

Looks to be a cut and paste from a 2001 Herald article - West is listed as 27 in the article, so that would square with his age:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.thebird.copwatch/kJFaZ3YIPFA

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In 2008, the Massachusetts Appeals Court upheld the verdict.

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Any idea how much time he served?

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Obvoiusly not enough! But, then again we see how well background checks and a stringent firearms regulated state makes us safer. Or not!

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The total prohibition on alcohol in the 1930s and recreational drugs increasing since the 1950s should have been a hint that such laws do little to stifle illegal activity and arguably create a hyper violent black market economy for those goods.

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Have any evidence that this sort of thing happens more often (or even as often) here as in other states with less firearm regulation?

Of course not, but that won't stop you (and your up-voters) from using this horrible crime against a police officer to grind your ideological axe. Pathetic.

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MA has a higher violent crime rate per capita than NH, VT, and ME with laxer laws.
http://www.boston.com/community/blogs/crime_punishment/2010/11/is_mass_r...

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You left out the rest of the quote:

"In fact, the homicide rate in Massachusetts is lower than all urban states in the Northeast; only Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont have lower homicide rates."

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Someone posting a link to the entire article and making a factual statement that, "MA has a higher per capita violent crime rate" is now "cherry picking"?

They didn't leave out a quote. They made a factual statement and linked to an entire article from a reputable news service.

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They posted info to support their opinion that gun regulations do not work. They also conveniently compared a widely urban populated state to rural areas in the region while ignoring the more rational comparison cited in their source to that of other urban areas.

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You fail to note MA's lower homicide vs. much higher assault rate has much to do with the greater density, proximity, and quality of hospitals.

What is rarely noted in the significant decrease in homicide rates nationwide since the 1970s is the growth of EMS . Many more victims live now that would have perished prior to EMS being available to help them.

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The Globe reports he had only recently finished three years of probation as part of the sentence.

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Damned if they do, shot if they don't?

Evans said his officers are trained to use their guns only as an absolute last resort. "It's a tough job and our officers did what they had to do," he said.

This is definitely a tough part of a tough job. If officers routinely (or often) drew their guns on such stops, I bet BPD would never hear the end of it from "the community."

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it must be really hot down there.

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I hope he didn't forget the marshmellows!

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If it was gang-unit that pulled over Angelo West, as the Commissioner said, then this was not just a 'traffic stop' as BPD announced last night.

I'm interested to know how many gang unit officers and vehicles were at the scene at the time they stopped Angelo West, and if it was more than one car, did they box him in?

Last night, BPD reported that the officer who was shot by Angelo was taken to the hospital, and at least two other officers were taken to the hospital for stress. Three or more officers really doesn't really sound like a routine traffic stop.

Last night, BPD said Angelo West was 'unprovoked.' when he started shooting. They said he got out of his car and started firing. To me, that doesn't sound like it's the whole story. For someone who is stopped by the police to start a gunfight, it's hard to imagine that they did not at least feel provoked. So what happened before the police stop? The scuttlebutt on Humboldt is that they had been tailing him all day.

Can anyone remember the last time the DA showed up at press conference the night after a shootout involving the police where the suspect was killed to allege the facts of the case? Do we know if he made these statements based on police testimony and video of the encounter or just police testimony?

"None [of the officers] had their guns drawn, all of them were approaching the vehicle in a respectful way, I would suggest."

Is this the guy who should be investigating this homicide? He may have a conflict of interest.

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West had an illegal firearm on him. That means he was facing 50 years or so in federal prison based on prior convictions (the Feds would have picked up this case as the usually do with simple gun possession crimes) He knew if he were to be arrested he was looking at probably the rest of his life in jail. So he tried to get away.

What do you think happened? The cops "provoked" him and then shot themselves in the face? The cops provoked him and he had to shot back in self defense?

Use your brain on this one Nancy. There will be other shootings where you can question what happened. This isn't goin to be one of them.

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It doesn't matter if he had a bomb if the stop unlawful. Unfortunate but law.

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Have you ever seen any vehicle from the G-Unit? They usually have more than 2 officers in the vehicle. Provoked? Amazing how anyone is trying to justify the actions of Mr. West. They were tailing* him all day? Good on them, he had a gun on him. The guy knew it was over, and wanted to go down in a blaze of glory.

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Uh, I thought that the police were allowed to "stalk" career criminals with warrants on them.

Kind of what we pay them to do, no?

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What? The above poster said the police had been tailing the suspect, I said good on them. You don't pay BPD to do anything.

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Which I assumed was "stalking", but has now been changed. Sorry. I misinterpreted the typo. My bad there. However, you did edit and even add to your post 40 minutes after the fact so you could get all indignant at how your typo was misinterpreted.

Then again, you are also, amid more typos, doing some misinterpreting your self about how police are funded. It isn't all out of local taxes. Not even close. I live in MA and pay a lot of income tax. You know where some of that goes? Local aid. You know where some of that goes? Municipal budgets, state police facilities shared with local police, etc. Follow it on from there.

Repeat for federal taxes.

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I most certainly did edit it; when I realized I didn't proofread it and saw* the typo. I was wondering where your comment was coming from. Autocorrect isn't my friend today. So we agree? Thank you for your contribution!

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Commissioner said YVSF has three officers per car, and two cars made the stop

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They may have been tailing, but that is not the narrative. They used he stop as a threshold. That's how it's done. He deserved hi death, but even scumbags have protection. They should said he was being tailed, but they didn't because they want to use a "respectful" approach the placate the ignorant people in Cambridge and Roxbury.

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There's a video that apparently shows the whole thing from start to finish. It's not prejudging a case if you base your initial impressions on reliable evidence. That's how every investigation starts.

You may counter that we haven't seen the video, but I have never heard of a case where Boston police said there was video but there wasn't.

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who cares if they were tailing him all day??? How is that relevant, he shot a cop in the face, end of story. Good riddance.

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Because they did say they were "tailing" him. If they say tailing then it could construed that the "traffic stop" was not so routine. You can't tail somebody for no reason.

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Angelo West, a convicted felon already having served time for attempting to kill two police officers, is the victim?

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That still wouldn't justify his actions.

What justifications would someone have to use an illegal firearm to shoot a cop in the face? Do any of the ones you can come up with apply here? No? Then take your conspiracy bullshit and shove it up your ass.

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I have to agree. Makes no sense for gang cops doing routine traffic stops. They can't come back and say he was observed because he was in a gang. And if he was in a gang who walks up to a car without at least having your hand on a gun. The 30 minutes prior to shooting must investigated. If there was no traffic violation then the city can be sued for 4th amendment violation.

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You know, to protest unprovoked police violence against communities of color?

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Given your Herald-ic obsession with these things, I'm sure you hallucinate a die in on your front steps every day as it is. Helps with the faux outrage.

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But you forgot to work in Faux News, the Koch Brothers, Karl Rove, and and a self-serving I WAS BICYCLING TO WORK AND THEN... into an otherwise decent off-topic ad hominen. So points off for that.

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a new barrel. The Staties chopped up the last one.

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He was convicted of shooting at a Boston officer and a state trooper in the Theater District in 2001

14 years later, an officer was gravely injured because this guy was not rehabilitated, but continued to be a cancer on society.

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Need to raise the age to 42 or 45 and hire more police officers.

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saint. This lowlife calls Superintendent Gross some of the most vile names possible and he handles the situation without putting his shoe up the punks ass. God bless him.

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Someone like you, who continues to whine about Judge Garrity at every opportunity, seems to forget all about Newman Flanagan's attack on innocent citizens and neighborhoods after being suckered by a racist psychopath. This is some of the lasting damage that it did to the city.

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you?

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Answer the question. Busing was the end of the world but armed home invasion of an entire neighborhood by police is not important?

Answer with something that isn't a racist screed

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see your friends in the above video. Excuse makers one and all.

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Not Flannigan.

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Does anyone know what the traffic violation was ? And is there video ? Not the shooting the actual violation that led to the shooting.

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First off...There's no justifying for West at all in this situation, the video clearly speaks for itself. Not only the part where West shot the cop but the fact that no one else (besides West) was shot. In another state maybe a southern state, I bet all three of those men probably would have been shot. Boston Cops don't just start shooting people. Second, third, fourth and so on, why the hell was West back on the streets after all the trouble he previously caused?! I know people who did crazy time in jail for non-violent acts! Who did he pay to get off? Funny how money talks and shit walks...No pun intended. Now, someone made a comment about West's family being crazy (or whatever term they used) like him. That's unnecessary, stick to the subject...That's a reason for speculation of prejudiceness and we don't need anymore of that. Lastly, I hope Moynihan recovers well and is able to enjoy the rest of his life :)

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