WATCH 'Crime Stories with Nancy Grace' On Merit Street Media! Click Here For Channel Finder

Police officer shot 10 times at close range with his own gun after suspect throws a rock at his head
by

The suspect also shot and killed an elderly woman, who was just a bystander, with the officer’s gun

A Massachusetts police officer was shot and killed by a suspect who had thrown a rock at his head, causing him to drop his gun. An innocent bystander was also fatally shot.

NBC News reports that Weymouth Police Officer Michael Chesna, 42, and bystander Vera Adams, 77, were killed on Monday by a violent perpetrator who had been terrorizing the Boston suburb on Sunday.

According to court documents obtained by NBC News, Officer Chesna encountered Emanuel Lopes, 20, near a residence in Weymouth when he responded to a dispatch of a disturbance. Lopes had previously been seen driving erratically down the town’s Main Street, according to the report, and allegedly hit an SUV with his BMW sedan just before ditching his car and taking off on foot.

When Officer Chesner arrived to the scene, he reportedly saw Lopes throw a rock through a window and exited the car to confront him. Lopes then allegedly threw a rock at the officer, hitting him in the head and causing the officer to drop his gun.

Lopes then picked up the gun, according to the court documents.

The suspect “picked up the firearm, stood over Off. Chesna, and fired approximately 5 rounds in the area of Off. Chesna’s head and approximately 5 rounds in the area of Off. Chesna’s torso and legs,” according to the documents.

The suspect than ran away into a backyard, as other officers were pursuing him, and began firing. He reportedly fired three rounds that hit Adams in the chest as she was sitting in the sunroom of her home, neighbors told NBC News.

Lopes’s mother also spoke to the news station, and said that her son had struggled with mental health issues. She said she had tried to get him help and had recently taken out a restraining order against him.

“I am heartbroken and I am extremely sorry,” she told NBC News.

Officer Chesna, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, left behind a wife and two children. He had served on the Weymouth police force for seven years.

Lopes has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

 

[Feature image: Michael C. Chesna/Weymouth Police Department]