State police identify ‘widely respected and well-liked’ retired trooper shot in Winthrop rampage

Retired state police trooper David L. Green is among the victims killed during a shooting rampage in Winthrop on Saturday, the state police confirmed on Sunday.

“We at the Massachusetts State Police are also mourning the loss of a member of our family. The victim who was murdered outside his Beach Road home, David L. Green, was a retired MSP Trooper who had an honorable 36-year career in law enforcement,” said state police Colonel Christopher Mason.

“Trooper Green was widely respected and well-liked by his fellow Troopers, several of whom yesterday described him as a ‘true gentleman’ and always courteous to the public and meticulous in his duties,” Mason added. “From what we learned yesterday, he was held in equally-high regard by his neighbors and friends in Winthrop.”

Three people died Saturday afternoon when a man smashed a stolen tractor-trailer through another vehicle and a building around 2:43 p.m. and then gunned down two bystanders before cops shot him to death, authorities said.

The shooter was identified as Nathan Allen, 28, who Suffolk DA Rachael Rollins said police have connected to “some troubling white supremacist rhetoric.”

Also killed by Allen was 60-year-old Air Force Staff Sgt. Ramona Cooper, Rollins said.

As part of the investigation into Allen, Rollins said police have found “anti Semitic rhetoric written in his own hand.”

The Suffolk DA noted that Allen passed by others who were not Black and are still alive during Saturday’s rampage.

Two other people who were injured after their car crashed during the incident are hospitalized and are expected to survive, according to Winthrop Police Chief Terence Delehanty.

There is “no place for hate” in Winthrop, Delehanty said.

Bouquets of yellow sunflowers and prayer cards adorned the temporary chain-link fencing erected to separate the demolished brick building from the sidewalk. Caution tape kept passer’s by from getting too close but dozens walked past the crime scene at the corner of Shirley and Cross streets on Sunday wondering how a mass-casualty event could infiltrate their sleepy seaside town.

“I’m just in shock,” one neighbor said, unloading water bottles from his car.

Police have revealed few details about what caused Allen to steal the truck and decimate the building. Authorities say the man then crawled out of the wreckage and began shooting.

Armed with two weapons, Allen first shot Cooper, and then Green— both innocent bystanders — Delehanty said.

The chief said on Sunday that the Winthrop sergeant that shot and killed Allen during his rampage “saved many more lives that day.”

Police said there are no other suspects being sought; they believe the incident was contained to that scene.

Developing

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3hdOuP1