Jamaica Plain shooting at short-term rental ‘horrible’ for guests

A man is dead after opening fire on police at a short-term rental in Jamaica Plain that brought a SWAT team response to a house stuffed with out-of-town visitors forced to hide from gunfire.

“This has been horrible for us,” said David Cohen, whose family is visiting from Brooklyn.

Cohen, his wife and two children were among a group of 15 to 20 guests that included women, children and an infant who were staying at 21 Wyman Street and were evacuated on buses around 3 a.m., after the shooting. The guests were taken to a nearby hotel.

Officers responding to a domestic violence call on Wyman Street around 10 p.m. on Saturday were met by a male suspect outside the house who fired at police as he retreated into the house.

“This was a very, very tense standoff,” said Boston Police Commissioner William Gross at the scene.

Gross said police backed off and sent up a perimeter — at the same time calling in SWAT and hostage negotiating teams to try and speak with the suspect.

The suspect then appeared at a front window of the home, Gross said, and smashed through it and brandished his gun toward officers. One officer fired, Gross said.

“Being in fear not only of the lives of residents in that building and in the neighborhood and in fear of their own lives an officer discharged his department issued firearm in the direction of that male suspect,” Gross said.

Once police were able to make entrance and search the house, they found one male suspect with a fatal gunshot injury, Gross said.

District Attorney Rachel Rollins’s office said in a statement that the suspect was someone who “lived at the dwelling and assisted with the day-to-day operations of the property.”

Rollins office is leading the investigation into the shooting.

No one else was injured during the standoff, police Sgt. John Boyle confirmed.

“This was a very, very tense standoff and we’re just happy that the officers, as well as the residents, left safely,” Gross said.

Anne Stack, who lives three houses away from the property, pointed at the broken glass in a second-story window as she walked down Wyman Street the morning after the shooting.

“We heard one shot and police vehicles were here in less than 30 seconds,” she said. “It was dramatic, almost like watching TV.”

Gross said the property was “an Airbnb” site. The property is currently listed on Airbnb, and other short-term rental platforms.

Officers allowed several people inside to collect suitcases and other belongings on Sunday, but Gross said the property would remain “frozen” until a search warrant is executed.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2nLpt5I