Police shot a man living in the home of a Middleborough woman who was found dead Friday, after he reported pointed a firearm at authorities.
At around 12:03 a.m., emergency response officials arrived with police at 65-year-old Norma DesRoche's place of residence in the eastern Massachusetts town of Middleborough. She was lying in the driveway with gunshot wounds to her chest, while her husband and another person crouched over her, giving her CPR, the Boston Globe reported.
According to witnesses at the house on Highland streed, another man suddenly appeared in the driveway wielding a rifle.
The man has been identified as Thomas Buttimer, 52. He allegedly walked toward the police officers, still holding the firearm.
Police instructed Buttimer to put down his arms, but he instead pointed it in their direction, which caused officers to open fire.
In a statement released shortly after the altercation by Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz's office, "Police told the individual several times to drop the weapon. He did not comply and was pointing the weapon at police. He was then shot by police."
Buttimer was wounded, and escorted to a nearby medical facility. He is still in the hospital, and is reported to be in stable condition.
He has been charged with armed assault and an attempt to murder a police officer, as well as possession of a firearm, the Boston Globe reported.
No motive for the violence has been released yet, but Cruz's office is currently working with State and Middleborough authorities are in the midst of an investigation.
Resident of the area Nick Ieronimo said the DesRoche family didn't have a past history of violence or domestic issues.
"I've known John for 20 years, a very nice man, hardworking," he said of John DesRoche. "There didn't seem to be any major problems there."
But another neighbor told the Globe that he often hears someone shooting rounds off into the heavily wooded area behind his house next door. He has called police a handful of times, he said, to complain.
"I didn't hear any shots last night," he said from his truck parked in front of the house. "But there has been gunfire back there in the last two weeks."
