BOSTON (WHDH) — The Middlesex County inmate accused of grabbing a deputy sheriff’s gun at a Boston hospital Wednesday is now facing charges in the case. 7News has learned this isn’t the first time the prisoner has been accused of trying to grab an officer’s gun.
Police said 36-year-old Raymond Wallace was brought to the hospital under heavy guard to see a doctor, but when his handcuffs were removed he grabbed for a sheriff’s deputy’s gun.
“He began to struggle for one of the deputy sheriff’s guns. The two individuals fell to the floor. A round was fired and one of the deputy sheriffs suffered a gun shout wound to the leg,” said Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis.
Another deputy returned fire, shooting Wallace in the chest.
7News learned Wallace has an extensive criminal history. Police surveillance pictures from 2001 show Wallace, dressed in a black ninja outfit, robbing a Waltham ice cream shop.
“He tried to get my gun, grabbed on it. I hit him as hard as I could in the head. It didn’t really faze him,” said Kevin O’Connor, a retired Waltham police officer.
O’Connor remembers tangling with Wallace, who grabbed for both O’Connor’s and his partner’s guns before O’Connor’s partner shot him.
“Shot him — once in the chest…once in the femoral artery,” said O’Connor.
The life and death struggle is chillingly similar to Wallace’s alleged shooting of a sheriff’s deputy Wednesday at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.
“I really feel like a robot in his mindset, like ‘You’re in my way. I have to leave. It doesn’t matter about you’,” said O’Connor. “Same thing with the prison guard — I can’t go to prison — where did he think he was going to go?”
Store owner Rick Pizzi said he wasn’t surprised to hear Wallace had allegedly taken on an armed officer again.
“He has no respect for the law. No respect for law enforcement officers. Obviously if he’s going to go out and attempt to shoot an officer he doesn’t care what happens to him,” said Pizzi.
Wallace served nine years in jail after the Waltham robbery. In 2010, he was accused of robbing a Peabody bookstore.
“This is a really dangerous person…He’s going to try and do it again and be careful when he’s in jail, all you prison guards out there, because he’ll try and do it again. He’s just that type of guy,” said O’Connor.
After Wednesday’s incident, Wallace is being charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery on a public employee and escape. Wallace is expected to survive his injuries.
A date for his arraignment has not been set.