Gunman Surrenders After Brighton Murder, Police Standoff
BOSTON (CBS) - A shooting and two-hour standoff at an elderly housing complex in Brighton ended with one man dead and the gunman in custody Wednesday afternoon.
Dozens of Boston police officers and SWAT teams converged on the John J. Carroll Apartments on Ledgemere Road just before 11 a.m.
The victim, William Thomas was a wheelchair-bound resident who police said was in his 70s.
WBZ-TV's Diana Perez reports
The gunman is identified as 54-year-old Randy Moore, who lived in the same building as Thomas.
Police say he was up on the second floor and started shooting at officers when they responded to the scene.
"I heard a whole lot of shooting this morning," says Faith Scruggs a elderly woman who lives near the shooting scene. "I looked out my back bedroom window I saw the cops in the back I saw them out the front they were behind the trees. I heard them saying come out the come out the back."
At first, seven officers trying to help the victim ended up trapped in the basement as the gunman fired at them.
"Officers were trapped in a basement apartment for some time" explained Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Lana Jones reports
Podcast
They were eventually freed by other officers who secured the area.
As the standoff began, about two dozen elderly residents were evacuated safely.
Boston police commissioner Ed Davis said a negotiator managed to talk the suspect into surrendering his weapons and giving up just before 1 p.m.
"We don't have a lot answers as to why this incident happened," Davis told reporters.
During the standoff, all officers at the scene were ordered to wear bullet-proof vests as a precaution.
At one point, SWAT teams entered the complex with shields and tear gas.
The area around the complex was shut down, including part of Chestnut Hill Avenue.
Police say this shooting was not random but they are still working to find an exact motive.
They say it appears the two men were not related.
Tarita Turner, the complex's president tells us Moore was someone she had complained about before.
She broke down after telling WBZ-TV about the attack. "Nobody deserves to die that way I don't care what you're going through I don't care what words are being transferred," she said.
Moore is expected to be arraigned Thursday morning on murder and other charges related to the incident.
The John J. Carroll Apartments is part of the Boston Housing Authority, which offers "arrangements for low- and moderate-income elderly and disabled persons," according to its web site.
WBZ-TV's Diana Perez contributed to this report.
