LYNN, MASS. (WHDH) - A Saugus man accused of viciously stabbing and slashing three police officers who were responding to a report of a stolen rental vehicle at his home Thursday has been ordered held without bail pending a psychological evaluation.
Steven Sossong, 43, was arraigned Thursday in Lynn District Court on a slew of charges including four counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, larceny of a motor vehicle, and three counts of attempted murder.
Officers investigating a report of a stolen U-Haul vehicle at a home on Tuttle Street around 7:30 a.m. encountered Sossong, who refused to leave the home, Assistant Saugus Police Chief Ron Giorgetti said at a news conference.
When a Saugus firefighter made entry into the home, Sossong allegedly stabbed one of the officers with a six-inch fixed blade KA Bar knife, a prosecutor said in court.
Two other officers were also attacked. They did not know Sossong was armed prior to the encounter.
The injured officers were able to disarm Sossong and take him into custody.
All three were transported to Massachusetts General Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. They are expected to recover. A fourth officer was also hospitalized for precautionary reasons.
“The officers in this department…they’re very close,” Giorgetti said. “When something like this happens, it kind of strikes home.”
Giorgetti became emotional when he was asked how the officers were doing.
“They’re just beginning to comprehend what occurred,” he said before taking a long pause. “I think we’ll know more once we get additional information from the hospital.”
Sossong was taken to Melrose-Wakefield Hospital for an evaluation.
One neighborhood resident witnessed the frightening incident unfold.
“They were going to break down the door. They kept screaming, ‘Open the door! Open the door!’ Finally, they broke it down,” she recalled. “The guy opened the window and the cops went in. One of them got stabbed in the arm and the other one got something with the head because he was on the stairs and they took both the cops to the hospital and then it was like over.”
Other residents could be seen standing on their porches as waves of police officers descended on the small residential neighborhood.
“I walked out to see police cars everywhere,” one man recalled. “It’s all pretty shocking and surprising for this neighborhood because this a pretty quiet street .”
Police say there is no danger to the community at this time.
Sossong is due back in court following the completion of a 20-day evaluation.
Massachusetts State Police detectives are assisting Saugus police with an investigation.
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