Local News

Man Charged In Murders Of Weymouth Officer Michael Chesna, Vera Adams

July 16, 2018 / 6:00 PM EDT / CBS Boston

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WEYMOUTH (CBS/AP) — A man accused of fatally shooting a Weymouth police officer with the officer's own gun and an innocent bystander could be arraigned Tuesday on murder charges.

Emanuel Lopes, 20, will either be arraigned in his hospital bed or in court for the deaths of Weymouth officer Michael Chesna, a six-year veteran of the force, and 77-year-old Vera Adams, who was shot after the suspect spotted her through a sliding glass door.

He was not "medically available" to be arraigned on Monday, as previously suggested, said the Norfolk District Attorney's Office.

Police officers and others lined a procession route Monday afternoon as Chesna's body was taken from the medical examiner's office in Boston to a funeral home in Weymouth.

On the sixth anniversary of Chesna becoming a police officer, he was posthumously promoted to sergeant. Hundreds attended a vigil for Chesna and Adams at Weymouth High School Monday night. His mother thanked the community for its support, saying, "Michael would be so proud."

Weymouth police were responding to a report of a person driving erratically Sunday morning when they discovered a crashed BMW, said Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey.

Chesna was trying to locate the driver of the vehicle, Morrissey said, when he spotted Lopes allegedly vandalizing a home. That's when Lopes hit Chesna in the head with a rock. Chesna fell to the ground, and Lopes took the officer's gun and repeatedly shot him in the head and chest, Morrissey said.

Another officer who had arrived at the scene shot Lopes in the leg. Lopes then ran off and shot Adams after he spotted her through her glass door. Police initially reported Adams was struck by crossfire, but Monday night, the Norfolk DA's office said Lopes intentionally shot her.

Weymouth Police Chief Richard Grimes described Chesna as a 42-year-old Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran who leaves behind a wife and two young children, ages 4 and 9. Chesna was from Weymouth and graduated in 1994 from Weymouth High School. Monday was the sixth anniversary of the day he was hired to join the Weymouth force. Grimes said he had spoken to Chesna's mother and she told him that her son joined the military "to open the doors to get in this job."

The department set up a fund for Chesna's family on Monday, after receiving reports of possible scam phone calls collecting money for the family.

Lopes was out of jail on pre-trial probation on a drug charge, according to WBZ's I-Team. Weymouth Police said he was selling cocaine to a minor and resisted arrest when he was charged in 2017. A judge released Lopes on the condition that he submit to random drug testing. He was due back in court on July 30.

Last year, Lopes' mother took out a restraining order against him, citing severe mental health issues.

The I-Team has learned that Lopes is Facebook friends with the daughter of the woman who owns the BMW Lopes crashed on Sunday. The district attorney's office did not say that the car was stolen. Sources say Lopes uses a different name on Facebook and told officers at the time of his October arrest that he was homeless.