A Springfield police officer was shot and killed this afternoon while answering a call for a domestic fight in a showdown that also left the shooter dead and a woman critically injured, police said.
The officer, who was not identified officially yet, is a 36-year veteran of the department. He was answering a call at 1:15 p.m. when an armed man allegedly shot the female he was arguing with, then shot and killed the officer, police said. The suspect then walked out into the street and shot and killed himself, Springfield police Sgt. John Delaney told the Herald.
The woman was said to be in surgery and in critical condition, said Delaney, who added he did not know if she made it out of surgery alive.
Springfield police plan a press conference for 6 p.m. on the standoff at the Lawton Arms apartment complex.
Shawna Teebles, a college student who lives in the Lawton Arms complex, told the Herald today she was “really shaken” to learn of the day’s events when she came home.
“We’re in 16 Acres. I always thought of this as a places where retirees live,” she said.
But this afternoon, the four-building complex was loaded with police cruisers and news crews, she added. “And everybody is out of their apartments, trying to figure out what happened.”
Hampden County District Attorney Mark Mastroianni who was at the apartment complex after the shooting, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Two Springfield officers were gunned down during a traffic stop nearly 27 years ago, the last time a city officer was killed in the line of duty.
