SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts police officer shot and killed a man who had stabbed him in the face, officials said.
Two Springfield officers responded to reports of a man with a knife who had threatened a victim at about 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Springfield police said in a statement.
“The suspect, an adult male, then stabbed one of the two responding officers in the face,” police said. “The suspect then again charged towards the officers with his knife in hand and the officer who was stabbed in the face fired two shots from his service pistol striking the suspect.”
The man was “told multiple times to drop the weapon,” Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood said at a Sunday news conference.
The man was treated at the scene before being taken to Baystate Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, police said. The officer was taken to the same hospital with what were described as “serious, non-life threatening injuries.”
No names were made public, but the injured officer was described as a nine-year department veteran and a military veteran, a department spokesperson told Masslive.com.
“We are extremely lucky today that we are not here to discuss a police officer killed in the line of duty,” Clapprood said.
Both officers, per protocol, have been placed on paid administrative leave. The shooting is under investigation by the police department and the Hampden district attorney’s office.
The stabbing was captured by both officers’ body-worn cameras as well as surveillance video from the area, officials said.
“In my eyes, unfortunately, it was justified,” Mayor Domenic Sarno said. “Deadly force was used against one of our officers and in turn the officer, unfortunately, had to use deadly force to keep other individuals from being hurt and or murdered.”
Clapprood and Sarno expressed sympathy for the man’s family.
