Three people are dead after a man stole a box truck from a body shop, crashed it, and opened fire in Massachusetts over the weekend.
The incident happened on Saturday, June 26th at around 2:45 p.m. in Winthrop.
According to Boston CBS Local, the situation began with 28-year-old Nathan Allen stealing a box truck owned by Rapid Flow Inc. from Cal’s Autobody by walking through a swamp to reach the business. Allen then shot into multiple cars and drove the rig away. Allen then crashed the truck into a house and attempted to steal another vehicle before choosing to travel on foot.
Allen then shot 60-year-old Ramona Cooper, a Staff Sergeant in the Air Force, three times in the back; a short while later, he also shot Retired Massachusetts State Police Trooper Dave Green once in the head and three times in the torso. Both victims died as a result of their injuries.
The Winthrop Police then exchanged fire with Allen, eventually shooting him dead.
Now, just days after the incident, the shooting is being investigated as a hate crime.
“These families deserve answers and we will find out what happened here,” said District Attorney Rachael Rollins, who did not explicitly say that Allen targeted Cooper and Green because of the color of their skin, but did point out that Allen “[walked by several people who were not Black and] they were not harmed. They are alive.”
“This is a sad day. These two people protected our rights, they fought for us to be safe and to have the opinions that we have, and they were executed yesterday. And we will find out why and find out more about this man who did this,” Rollins continued.
Allen did have a legal license to carry at the time of the incident, but Rollins claims that police have discovered “troubling white supremacist rhetoric” by Allen. These writings have not been released, and it is not clear where they were found.
“We have no tolerance for hate in this community. It is an issue that myself and the District Attorney have worked on in the past in this community, we’ll continue to work on it as a community,” said Winthrop Police Chief Terrance Delahanty.