Massachusetts Man Killed by Police Wearing Body Armor With 'Wires', Threatened Bomb Would Go Off
A 31-year-old Massachusetts man who reportedly made bomb threats was shot and killed by police early Wednesday morning.
"While the negotiations were going on, the man appeared to get more and more agitated. He was making furtive movements," Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early said, according to NBC Boston.
The @WorcesterPD says it does not appear the man who was shot fired any weapon that he may have had with him. The @worcesterda says he did have a device on him that appeared to be an explosive device but it's unclear if it was an active and working device @NBC10Boston @NECN
— Alysha Palumbo NBC10 Boston (@AlyshaNBCBoston) April 21, 2021
The man, Phet Gouvonvong of Worcester, called 911 around 10:40 p.m. Tuesday night and told dispatchers he was armed with a bomb and threatened to detonate it, saying that he had another bomb was elsewhere in the city, according to the local NBC affiliate.
Law enforcement located Gouvonvong by tracking his cell phone and found him on Grafton Street, where he appeared to be holding an assault rifle, wearing body armor and donning a backpack with "wires coming out of it," NBC Boston reported. Gouvonvong also had a handgun and multiple rounds of ammunition.
Dispatchers took a "long attempt" to negotiate with Gouvonvong first for 30 minutes on the phone and then later when they arrived at the scene, Early said to reporters Wednesday morning. Worcester Police Department established a perimeter around the scene to protect the public in the area, and a SWAT team was also present at the scene, according to Early.
"While the negotiations were going on, the man appeared to get more and more agitated. He was making furtive movements," Early said.
The district attorney added: "We were in very close proximity with the man. There was a lengthy attempt to deescalate the situation, at which point the man advanced towards the police officers. At that point in the negotiation, there was a shooting."
Early confirmed to reporters the shooting occurred at 12:05 a.m. on Wednesday. Gouvonvong was pronounced dead at the scene and NBC Boston reported that a police officer has since been placed on leave.
The district attorney said any background information on Gouvonvong was not known to the police department prior to the event, nor is a potential motive. Police had just obtained a search warrant and entered Gouvonvong's apartment at the time of Wednesday's press conference.
The conversations between Gouvonvong and dispatchers will need to be reviewed to determine how the situation escalated, but it's too soon to make a call, Early said in the press conference. "There's a lot still going on in regard to that aspect" that investigators would be looking into in the pending investigation, he added.
Early added to reporters that investigators could not confirm whether Gouvonvong in fact had a bomb at the scene and said "at this time" the presence of another bomb was not known. Further details about the suspected bomb could not be revealed because they are "part of the investigation" into the event, Early said. "Let the police do their job."
Newsweek has reached out to Early's office for comment and was directed to the press conference.
