Agencies pay final respects as fallen Weymouth officer taken to medical examiner’s office

BOSTON (WHDH) - Scores of law enforcement officers lined the route to the medical examiner’s officer Sunday as the body of Officer Michael Chesna was transported to Boston.

Chesna was pronounced dead at South Shore Hospital Sunday, hours after he was shot and killed while responding to a report of an erratic motorist Sunday morning, Weymouth Police Chief Rick Grimes said.

Chesna was an Army veteran and a six-year veteran of the department, who was married with two children, ages 4 and 9, Grimes said at an afternoon press conference.

Emmanuel Lopes, 20, who was arrested and charged with two counts of murder, had been driving erratically as officers tried to pull him over, according to authorities. He then crashed into another car near South Shore Hospital and fled on foot toward Burton Terrace.

As Lopes tried to escape from officers, police said he attacked Chesna with a stone, commandeered his firearm and shot him multiple times in the head and neck.

Lopes then allegedly fired three more times at pursuing officers after he was shot in the leg by police.

One of the shots fired by Lopes struck and killed a woman inside a nearby home, police said.

Neighbors say the woman was in her 70s or 80s and that she was a “bright and energetic person.”Her name has not been made public.

“On behalf of the Massachusetts State Police I offer our deepest condolences to the family of Officer Chesna, the family of the Weymouth woman who was also killed, and the Weymouth Police Department,” said Colonel Kerry A. Gilpin in a statement.

Prosecutors and state police detectives assigned to the district attorney’s office are assisting with an investigation.

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