Police shoot, kill man at Winchester apartment building

Police shot a man to death in Winchester.Nick Stoico

WINCHESTER — A Winchester police officer shot a man to death Monday night, according to Middlesex prosecutors, who said police had been involved in a confrontation with the man inside an apartment.

The incident happened at about 8:12 p.m. at the Parkview condo development on Swanton Street. Prosecutors said the shooting stemmed from a 911 call by a security guard about a 35-year-old resident who “had an issue" in the unit where he lived. After officers arrived, they went into the unit and found the man holding two knives, according to the office of Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan, which is investigating.

Three officers “reportedly heard noise coming from inside but did not observe signs of forced entry,” according to Ryan’s office. The officers then “gained entry” to the apartment and found the man with the knives, prosecutors said. They did not say how the officers got inside.

“Police gave verbal commands for the man to drop the knives before a Taser was deployed twice, which was unsuccessful in subduing the man,” Ryan’s office said in a news release. “When the man reportedly continued to approach the officers, while still in possession of the knives, a Winchester Police Officer fired his service weapon striking the man.”

Prosecutors said the man was taken to a hospital, where he died. They did not release his name, nor did they disclose the issue that originally led police to be called to the unit.

The three officers were taken to an area hospital as a precaution, and they will be placed on paid administrative leave under the policy of their department as the investigation continues.

Law enforcement kept up a presence at the apartments late into the night, though the scene had quieted significantly by midnight. Investigators were seen entering the multistory building, and two State Police vehicles remained parked across the street.

The incident followed another fatal police-involved shooting in the region on Monday.

A Lynn police officer shot and killed a man who was suspected of robbing a Walgreens in Revere Monday morning after a Revere officer was “pinned by the suspect’s vehicle” following a car chase, according to prosecutors in Essex County.