WEYMOUTH, MASS. (WHDH) - A Weymouth police officer who suffered life-threatening injuries in a shooting Sunday morning has died, along with a neighborhood resident who was struck by gunfire as officers chased the suspect on foot, authorities said.
Emergency officials responding to a reported disturbance on Burton Terrace about 8 a.m. found 42-year-old Weymouth police officer Michael Chesna suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
He was taken to South Shore Hospital, where he later died, Weymouth Police Chief Rick Grimes said.
This is #Weymouth Police Officer Michael Chesna. Friend told me he was a great man who always wanted to be a police officer. Says he joined military to help him achieve that goal. Tomorrow was going to be his 6th anniversary with the department. #7News pic.twitter.com/IWWg8Mapjp
— Michael Yoshida (@YoshidaCNN) July 15, 2018
Emanuel Lopes, 20, of Weymouth, was arrested and charged with two counts of murder. He had been driving erratically prior to the shooting and was found vandalizing a house after crashing his car.
As Lopes tried to escape from responding 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. Her name has not been made public.
Resident Susan Long says several officers swarmed the neighborhood in the moments following the shooting.
“I heard shots. I didn’t know what they were,” she said. “I open up the back door and instantly there was an officer there. More just came running out behind those houses.”
Long says officers ordered Lopes to drop his weapon before multiple shots rang out.
“You could hear the cops telling him to ‘put the gun down, put the gun down,’” she said.
As many as 12 shell casings were found on the ground in the area where Chesna was shot, sources told 7’s Steve Cooper.
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.
“He joined the military to help open the doors for him to get on this job…I hired Officer Chesna 6 years ago tomorrow.” @WeymouthPD Chief on Chesna who was 42 years old when he was shot and killed…leaving his 4 and 9 year old children fatherless. #7news pic.twitter.com/tTWgYBJv6o
— Matt Rascon (@MattRasconNews) July 15, 2018
“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,” state police Col. Kerry A. Gilpin said in a statement.
A vigil will be held in honor of the two victims at Weymouth High School at 7 p.m. Monday.
Prosecutors and state police detectives assigned to the district attorney’s office are assisting with an investigation.
Lopes is being treated at North Shore Hospital. He is slated to be arraigned Monday on two counts of murder.
In a statement, District Attorney Morrissey said, “This is an awful day for Weymouth and for Massachusetts. Our hearts are very much with the surviving families of these victims.”
It’s unclear whether he will be arraigned in Quincy District Court or at the hospital.
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