EAST BOSTON (WHDH) — After two of their comrades were shot last night, two police officers stepped directly into danger to help save them.
As ambulances and emergency medical teams were rushing to the scene, Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said the assisting officers dragged the wounded as they exchanged fire so they were in a protected zone.
Those officers began medical treatment on them. Officer Matthew Morris, a 12 year veteran of the department, was in grave condition after a bullet struck an artery in his leg. Morris required a tourniquet.
“One officer had his hand in one of the wounds,” Evans said. “I think that was instrumental in getting him to Mass. General quickly.”
Mayor Marty Walsh expressed his pride in the city’s police forces after speaking with some of the officers involved.
“Oftentimes people don’t look at the other side of what happens with police officers,” Walsh said.
Fifty police officers gathered to pray for the injured and the safety of all officers.
Boston Police confirmed that two police officers are in critical but stable condition at Massachusetts General Hospital.
The Boston Police Department’s top brass including Superintendent in Chief William Gross paid a visit.
One sergeant said, “we’re keeping them in our prayers.”
Police shot and killed the man, 33-year-old Kirk Figueroa, who was armed with a rifle and wore a ballistic vest.
The shots come after police responded to a call for a possible domestic incident on 136 Gladstone Street before 11 p.m. Wednesday night when a gunman opened fire.
“We heard officers screaming on the radio,” said Boston Police Commissioner William Evans. “Shots fired and an officer down. The officers were screaming officer down.”
Both policemen were identified as males, with one policeman serving 27 years in the department, the other 12 years.
Nine others were admitted to MGH for stress and other injuries.
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