It started around 1:43 p.m. Tuesday when a man allegedly walked into the Indulge! candy store in the Newton Highlands commercial district while carrying a knife, an action that a Newton police dispatcher interpreted as a robbery underway, officials said.
Just a few minutes after police received that first 911 call, Newton officers shot and fatally wounded the 28-year-old man who lived in an apartment above the candy store during a confrontation inside the building on Lincoln Street, officials said.
The name of the man has not yet been released, but his death is the fourth police shooting currently under investigation by Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan’s office since November. In the span of 10 days that month, police shot four people, killing two. Ryan is investigating police using of deadly force in Winchester, Everett, and Malden.
At a press conference Ryan on Tuesday provided some details about the most recent case of police using deadly force on a civilian in Massachusetts — other details were obtained by Globe reporters during interviews Tuesday.
What follows is a summary of what is known, as of Wednesday, of the events leading to up to the man’s killing:
The man lived for about the last two years in an apartment above the Indulge store on Lincoln Street. He entered the store, apparently to speak with a woman, but the fact that he was carrying a knife led to a 911 call. The store has been a neighborhood fixture since 1991 and Ryan praised its owner.
“The owner certainly kept a cool head in a difficult situation,” Ryan said.
When two Newton police officers arrived on the scene — one in uniform, the other in plainclothes — the man allegedly was still carrying the knife, Ryan said. They were joined by two uniformed State Police troopers who had finished a paid detail on Commonwealth Avenue and responded to radio calls about a possible robbery underway.
A mental health clinician who is a Newton city employee responded to the scene, but did not enter the building due to safety concerns, officials said.
Still holding the knife, the man left the store and used the doorway at 18 Lincoln St. in the middle of the building to access the residential area on the upper floors, officials said. Police followed inside and police and the man came to a stop in a common area on the third floor, Ryan said.
Newton police used a non-lethal beanbag shotgun on the man, and a State Police trooper used a Taser on the man, officials said. “Both of those uses of nonlethal force were unsuccessful in subduing the suspect,” Ryan said.
The man was still holding the knife. Two Newton police officers fired at him with their service weapons. Their names and the number of shots they fired, the number of times the man was struck by gunfire, and where the bullets hit him were not immediately disclosed by officials.
Fernando Fierimonte, the owner of Anthony Andrew Jewelers, told the Globe he heard what sounded like six loud gunshots. His store is across the street from the candy store.
The man was taken to Newton Wellesley Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Authorities have not described the knife that they say the man was holding.
Several Newton police officers were taken to area hospitals for medical treatment, but none suffered life-threatening injuries, Ryan said. The State Police troopers were treated for stress at a hospital while one was also examined for “persistent ringing in the ear due to his proximity to the discharge of the firearms,” State Police Colonel Christopher Mason said.
Newton police are not equipped with body cameras and the troopers were not wearing them either officials said.
The investigation is ongoing.
Information from prior Globe coverage of this incident was used in this story.
John R. Ellement can be reached at john.ellement@globe.com. Follow him @JREbosglobe.