In final hours of his life, suspect shot by trooper led police on foot, car chase

Eric Leach of Brockton and Winthrop began the last day of his life at 6:10 a.m., when he was seen on surveillance video, looking inside a 7-Eleven on Market Street in Rockland, authorities said.

Six minutes later, he entered the store while there were two other men inside, took his time perusing the aisles and put on a pair of white gloves from a shelf after taking off the tag, Rockland Police Chief John Llewellyn said.

After waiting for the two men to leave, he walked up to the counter, took a handgun out of his waistband and pointed it at one of two women, who gave him $334, and left, the chief said.

After receiving the first 911 call, police flooded the area and began getting other 911 calls reporting that a suspicious person was running around yards by Brookside Road, about a half-mile from the 7-Eleven, he said. Police also received calls from two people reporting that a man was trying to get into their homes, Llewellyn said.

One officer spotted the suspect, drew his gun and told him to get down on the ground, the chief said, but the man only challenged him and began to walk toward the officer, who then drew his Taser, but it was ineffective because the man was wearing a thick sweater.

That officer and two others began to run after the suspect, who managed to get into one of their cruisers on Brookside Road, Llewellyn said. The officers approached the car, drew their guns and pointed it at the man, who drove toward them, he said, but the officers managed to get out of the way.

Two other officers got into their cruisers and followed the vehicle through Rockland, Norwell, Weymouth and Abington, the chief said. One of the cruisers flipped over on a curve, he said, and a Weymouth police cruiser on Route 3 also crashed. Neither officer was seriously injured.

The pursuit ended in Quincy, where he stopped in two places and police negotiated with him for two hours before he got out with the rifle in the cruiser he’d stolen and was shot by a state trooper, authorities said.

He was 36 years old.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/39i4YTp