Suspect Killed in Police Shooting Near Boston University

By JASON CLAFFEY (Patch Staff)

Authorities have identified the man killed by police Friday in a shooting near Boston University.

He is Santos Laboy, 45, of Somerville, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley.

Laboy had a warrant out for his arrest for allegedly harassing a woman, police said. Boston University police officers approached him Friday afternoon and engaged him in conversation, but he ran away.

A State Trooper responded to a call for assistance. Laboy, armed with a knife, refused orders to drop the weapon and the trooper shot him.

Conley said his office is investigating if deadly force was justified in this case.

“That determination will be made after a full, fair, and impartial investigation,” Conley said in a statement. “We draw no conclusions from the preliminary evidence and we reserve judgment until all the facts are in.”

This is a shot of the crime scene:

Photo credit: WHDH

A female student at BU witnessed the shooting and provided this account:

“The guy was holding a knife and was walking towards the cop and the cop shot him four times,” sophomore student Vicky Radaios told the Daily Free Press. “I saw him go down.”

Another witness gave this account to the Boston Globe:

“The troopers were chasing him he ran up the walkway. The troopers were telling him to drop the knife ... There was a trooper who had come from the other side of the walkway. The guy went at him. The trooper said, ‘Drop the weapon! Drop the weapon!’ He kept coming, and the trooper fired at him.”