Boston police fatally shoot person who attacked officer and EMS clinician with a sword, commissioner says

A person experiencing a mental health crisis was fatally shot by police after attacking an officer and an EMS clinician on Saturday, Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox said.

Police responded to an emergency call at an apartment on Hemenway Street near Northeastern University on Saturday morning.

After officers spoke to the person for a length of time, “the individual immediately opened the door. He was armed with some type of sword, stabbing the officer in the arm and knocking the EMS clinician to the ground,” Cox said.

“One or more officers fired a Taser and their firearm at the individual, bringing the person to a halt,” the commissioner said. “EMS immediately provided medical attention. Unfortunately, the person succumbed to the injuries.”

The person has not been immediately identified.

Several officers were injured in the incident, but none of their injuries are life-threatening, Cox said.

“This was a very chaotic circumstance,” Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said. “A number of first responders — from a mental health perspective as well as members of the Boston Police Department — were doing everything they could dealing with a difficult situation.”