CHELSEA, Mass. (WHDH/AP) — Massachusetts police said a man who barricaded himself inside a house and exchanged fire with officers was found dead of a gunshot wound after the home he was in went up in flames.
Officers were initially dispatched to the Warren Avenue home Monday on a report of a man, 38, threatening to shoot his wife, 40. They said the man fired at them from inside and several departments were called in to surround the building.
State police said the domestic altercation resulted in Kelly Pastrana chasing his wife out of the home and across the street to another house, where he allegedly discharged his firearm in the direction of the room where his wife and daughter were hiding.
Pastrana later returned to the home and fired multiple shots at responding officers, according to police. Troopers and officers evacuated residents of surrounding homes and of a nearby apartment building.
Negotiators and a SWAT team surrounded the home in an attempt to resolve the situation peacefully, but were not able to.
Shortly after the shootings, the house caught fire with Pastrana still inside, police said. Fire crews, dressed in bullet proof vests, attempted to douse the flames from a distance. Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley said Tuesday evidence suggests Pastrana deliberately set the fire.
Pastrana’s body was found in the home shortly after 2 a.m. Chelsea police Chief Brian Kyes said it’s not clear if Pastrana shot himself or was hit by police.
No officers were shot, but one did suffer a minor hand injury. Kyes said the woman and her 10-year-old daughter were not harmed.
Relatives told 7News that Pastrana was having “family problems.”
An investigation is ongoing.
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