State police are investigating the fatal shooting of a man who drove his car into a police station in central Massachusetts early Sunday morning.
Officers shot the man after he repeatedly rammed his vehicle into Leicester Police Station, located about 50 miles west of Boston, at around 6:30 a.m., Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early, Jr., said.
A dispatcher located at a communication center saw the car hit the building “in real time” through security footage and called nearby officers to the scene.
“The man exited the vehicle and immediately shouldered what appeared to be a rifle and aimed it at police officers,” Early Jr., said. “After that action, the police officers then fired and shot the man.”
Emergency medical aid was given to the man, described as a white male possibly in his 20s, who was later pronounced dead at St.Vincent Hospital in Worcester. Early Jr. did not identify the man but said he was “known” to police through a pending case involving a traffic violation.
Nearly the entire vehicle was in the station’s lobby, according to Leicester Police Chief Kenneth Antanavica.
“The entrance to the police station is two double doors, there’s steel doors that open outwards, and there’s a ramp that goes up to it for handicap accessibility,” Antanavica said. ”He drove his car up that.”
It’s unclear whether the vehicle has been removed from the lobby.
It appeared to be an isolated incident with no lingering threat to the community, Antanavica said. Two officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave automatically, as per department protocol, amid an investigation conducted by the Massachusetts State Police.