NEWBURY, MASS. (WHDH) - Authorities have identified the 31-year-old Dracut man who was fatally shot by police outside of a gas station in Newbury on Sunday after allegedly ramming a police cruiser while trying to evade capture following a violent carjacking spree, officials said.
A state trooper and three Newbury police officers fatally shot the driver, later identified as Thomas Murray, when he rammed a state police cruiser at a Prime gas station on Central Street in Newbury around 6 p.m., according to the Essex District Attorney’s Office.
The confrontation came at the end of a carjacking spree that began Saturday at a Starbucks in North Andover, when Murray pulled a mother and a 5-year-old out of a car and sped away, police said.
The victim told police that his wife and their 5-year-old child were waiting for him while he went into a Starbucks and that a suspect got into the car, yelled at them to get out, and then drove off westbound on Route 114. That vehicle was involved in a police pursuit in Canton about 6:30 a.m. on Sunday and was found abandoned in Lexington.
Police say Murray then carjacked a Subaru Legacy from a woman at a Lowell tavern and took that to the Tulley BMW dealership in Nashua, N.H. Murray allegedly slashed an employee in the wrist before stealing an SUV.
“It was terrifying and there was a lot of adrenaline at the time,” said Tulley employee Tom Revetria
Staffers were able to track the BMW’s GPS to the Newbury gas station, where officers fatally shot Murray. Cheryl Gordon, Murray’s aunt, said she doesn’t blame police for their actions and said her thoughts are with the injured Tulley employee.
“We’re all thinking of him and sorry this happened, we’re grateful he’s alive,” Gordon said.
Police are also investigating whether Murray was behind the theft of a vehicle in Boston on Saturday.
The officer-involved shooting in Newbury is being investigated by the Essex District Attorney’s Office.
This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.
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