Two people were killed in an apparent double homicide Friday night in a penthouse unit of a luxury building in South Boston, authorities said.
Police found the two victims in an 11th floor apartment at 141 Dorchester Ave., which is located near the MBTA Broadway station. They had been called to the building to respond to a report of a man with a gun. Officers exchanged gunshots with the man, who was wounded, according to Police Commissioner William Evans.
A SWAT team then went through the building and discovered the two victims.
“When they opened the door they were confronted by an individual who took a shot at them, and they returned fire,’’ Evans said late Friday night at the scene. “Our officers had to use deadly force when they were confronted by deadly force.’’
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Police on Saturday identified the man with the gun as Bampumim Teixeira, 30, of Chelsea. Police said the two people who were killed were a man and a woman in their 50s. Police provided the information in a posting on their Facebook page.
One person with knowledge of the investigation said the victims’ throats were cut. A law enforcement official said police were investigating whether they had been shot or stabbed.
Evans said the victims apparently were residents of the building. “We believe clearly that the victims and the individual — the suspect — knew each other,’’ Evans said.
Police did not release their ages or names.
The suspect fired his weapon once, and he suffered two or three gunshot wounds, Evans said, and was taken to the hospital.
The police officers were not injured.
“They’re pretty shaken up; they’re at the hospital being looked at,’’ Evans said. “No gunshot wounds or anything . . . [but] they were in a little bit of a gun battle.”
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Police did not have a motive for the shooting.
They were continuing their investigation early Saturday morning by interviewing residents and checking security cameras.
The incident unfolded when police were called to the 140-unit Macallen Building at about 8:45 p.m.
Peter Dziedzic, who lives on the second floor, said he arrived home shortly before 9 p.m. and emerged from the Broadway MBTA stop to see about six or seven police vehicles arriving.
“As I was coming out of the T across the street, they were literally just coming up in front of the building,” he said. After he went inside to his unit, Dziedzic watched from his window as the law enforcement presence grew, he said, and portions of Dorchester Avenue, Broadway, and West 4th Street were closed to traffic.
“As it was building up there were more and more police cars. . . . At the height of this there must have been easily 40 or 50 police vehicles,” he said.
Dziedzic said he observed K-9 units and police dressed in tactical gear, but he did not see or hear any violence. He believed that the police activity was focused on an upper floor.
“It’s a pretty soundproof building. I don’t even hear my neighbors,” he said.
The Macallen building is advertised as “one of Boston’s newest, loft-style luxury properties,’’ according to LuxuryBoston.com, a real estate website. Condos sell for up to $1.8 million, and two bedroom apartments rent for $5,500, the site says.
Globe correspondent Mina Corpuz and Jan Ransom of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
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