Telegram & Gazette archives: Man killed in shooting with Leominster police

Posted Sep. 16, 2015 at 8:05 AM
Updated Sep 16, 2015 at 8:25 AM

 

THIS STORY ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON SEPT. 16, 1995

 

Suspect killed, policeman wounded

By Christine Guilfoy

 

LEOMINSTER - A police officer was seriously wounded and a suspected prowler killed last night in an exchange of gunfire at 640 Union St.

 

Police Officer Thomas R. Kent, 32, was shot once in the chest and was undergoing surgery late last night. He was listed in serious condition at the University of Massachusetts Hospital in Worcester after being flown there by Life Flight helicopter.

 

Leominster Police Chief Peter F. Roddy said Kent and Officer Dwayne Flowers were fired upon immediately after they got out of their cruiser while answering a call about a prowler.

 

Roddy said preliminary information from the scene was that the suspect was lying on the driveway in front of the Union Street home when he started shooting at the officers. Flowers was not injured.

 

WEAPONS RECOVERED

 

The officers returned the fire and shot the unidentified suspect, Roddy said. Roddy said more than one weapon was recovered. Masking tape, white gloves and two guns were at the scene, according to an unconfirmed report.

 

Deputy Fire Chief William F. Thibodeau said the assailant was shot once in the neck.

 

According to Anne E. Blanchette, a relative of Kent, the officers interrupted a burglary in progress.

 

Neighbors said one cruiser was parked outside the house when three to four shots rang out.

 

A neighbor who declined to be identified said a woman ran from the house just after the shots rang out, shouting for help. The neighbor called police.

 

When rescuers arrived, Kent was found wounded, sprawled in the front yard. He was transported by fire department ambulance to Leominster Hospital.

 

The suspected prowler lay in the yard near some bushes. He was reportedly given cardiopulmonary resuscitation by rescue workers and then taken to Leominster Hospital.

 

"I am shocked. I am so shocked," said a man who was standing outside the light green and white single-family home moments after the shooting. The man said he lived at the house but was not home at the time of the shooting. The house is about a mile from the Sterling line on a quiet, tree-lined residential street.

 

The owner of the house is Frank E. Iacaboni. His first cousin, Margaret G. Iacoboni, who was outside the house last night, said Frank lives at the house with his girlfriend.

 

Iacoboni said she spoke briefly with police when she arrived at the house and was told no one from the house was involved in the shooting.

 

"Someone, for whatever reason, was outside the house and someone in the house called the police about it," she said.

 

She said Frank is the father of David Iacaboni, who was recently convicted in the murder of Richard Tuttle of Lancaster. Tuttle's body was found in July in a pond in Ashby.

 

Two youths who declined to identify themselves said they were at a high school football game with Frank Iacaboni and one of his sons. When they returned, they found police cars outside the house.

 

Kent has been on the police force about 10 years, according to Blanchette, who is related to Kent's wife, Rebecca. Mayor Dean J. Mazzarella joined Kent's wife and other family members at UMass after the shooting, she said. The Kents have three children.

 

Kent was a military police officer overseas before joining the Leominster police force, Blanchette said.

 

Mazzarella, on leave of absence from the Leominster Police Department while serving as the city's mayor, said he had worked with Kent and they were friends. He described Kent as an excellent, hard-working officer.

 

This "proves that there is no such thing as a routine police call," Mazzarella said.

"This kind of thing can happen in Leominster, Pratts Junction (in Sterling), New York or Los Angeles. It's as simple as that.

 

"I want the people of Leominster to know that we're staying here through the night if necessary (at UMass Hospital) to be with the officer and his family," Mazzarella said.

 

The mayor was attending a Leominster High School football game and Roddy was at a police chiefs conference in Northboro when they were notified of the shootings. The two met at UMass, shortly after Kent was taken there in the Life Flight helicopter.

 

A police radio report of an officer shot brought police cruisers and two ambulances to the scene. Residents also began pouring into the area by car and on foot. The city's emergency management officers later directed traffic away from the scene.

 

Iacoboni said she heard about the shooting from another relative who saw a news report on television.

 

The wounded officer's mother arrived at the hospital shortly after 11:30 p.m. Police said she lives in another state and was transported to Worcester by police officers in jurisdictions along the route. A Massachusetts state trooper brought her to the hospital for the final leg of the relay.

 

Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte said the incident occurred while police were responding to a call about a prowler. The Crime Prevention and Control unit operating out of Conte's office was investigating.

 

Gary V. Murray, Edward J. Canty, Anna Bisol, Kathleen A. Shaw, Jay Whearley and James A.W. Shaw of the Telegram & Gazette staff contributed to this report.