Revere Residents Furious After SWAT Team Ransacked Home
REVERE (CBS) - "They broke everything here," said one resident pointing to a gaping hole in the door. He showed us a ceiling torn up. "Broke everything. They messed up the rooms, the floors, everything," he said.
Tenants who said they were afraid to share their names, described how police busted into their apartment before the break of dawn Sunday.
Revere Police said they were responding to a call that shots were fired inside the home.
WBZ obtained a recording of that call. "There's shots being fired in my building at 22 Francis Ave. I have to run back in, I still have a kid in there..." said the caller who didn't give a name, and said he was using a phone he found on the sidewalk.
Police said when occupants refused to come out, they used what they call a special operations response, with the help of State Police.
Revere Police sent out a statement Monday afternoon. "Responding officers on the scene reported an odor of burnt gunpowder... The lights were turned off and people were seen moving window curtains..."
"They used the gas bomb," said a tenant, who insisted there were no shots fired. "I don't have any gun, any weapon."
The landlord's daughter says if tenants did not come out right away, there's a reasonable explanation. "They just scared," she said. "Wake up and see the police, you know."
Police say six tenants were taken to the Revere Police department's community room where they were given water, coffee, and food. No one was arrested.
Residents feel they were targeted because they are Muslim. "I feel discrimination," said a resident who said he's an American citizen who's lived here for 13 years. "I feel discrimination because we are Arabic, we are Muslim."
Revere Police call the building a "rooming house". They are investigating all aspects, including where the 911 call came from.