BOSTON, April 12, 2016—After releasing his final report, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley today delivered the following findings in the fatal police-involved shooting of Angelo West after West shot one officer in the face and fired additional shots at four Boston Police officers and one State Police trooper on March 27, 2015:
“Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us. With me today are Boston Police Commissioner William Evans, State Police Colonel Richard McKeon, and First Assistant District Attorney Patrick Haggan, who led the investigation into the fatal shooting of Angelo West after Mr. West opened fire on Boston and State police, nearly killing Officer John Moynihan, during a motor vehicle stop last year.
“Earlier today, I met with members of Mr. West’s family to tell them that we would not be seeking criminal charges in connection with that shooting. The facts and evidence gathered during this investigation establish beyond any doubt that the two Boston Police officers and one State trooper who discharged their firearms did so in a lawful exercise of self-defense and defense of others.
“As many of you know, Massachusetts is one of the few states in the country where the authority to direct and control death investigations is vested with the district attorney. So the responsibility in cases such as this one falls to me – first to find the facts through an exhaustive investigation, and then to apply the law to those facts.
“I’ll summarize the results of that process in a moment, but I want to make something clear from the outset. In most other big cities across the country, police departments perform their own investigations and hand off their charging decisions to prosecutors after the fact. Here, the investigation is overseen from its inception by an independent authority outside the police department’s command structure.
“Assistant DA Haggan responded to the scene with me on the night Officer Moynihan was shot and Mr. West was killed. He oversaw the investigation from start to finish, and he reported exclusively to me, with the input of other senior homicide-qualified prosecutors on my staff. He had the cooperation and assistance of Boston and State police, including some of the very best police detectives in the country drawn from a variety of disciplines, but the legal authority started and ended in this office.
“I mention this because I’ve spoken to district attorneys from across the country over the past year and a half or so, all of them interested in what’s become known as the Boston Model for investigating police shootings. The hallmarks of that model include independent oversight through a prosecutor’s office, exhaustive investigative practices, and unparalleled transparency to build confidence in our findings and ensure that everyone involved is operating at the very highest levels of professionalism and integrity. And toward that end, each media outlet present today will leave this office with access to the entire investigative file generated in this case. I’ve already provided Mr. West’s family with a copy of that file.
“Included with that file will be the video we’re about to play here. It pulls together video evidence from area business surveillance cameras, synchronized with recordings from police dispatchers, the city’s ShotSpotter system, and a civilian witness. I have to warn you that it will be disturbing, but it should give you an idea of what the officers faced that evening a little over a year ago.
“The investigation revealed that members of the Boston Police Youth Violence Strike Force were aware on March 27, 2015, of two shots-fired incidents linked to one individual associated with the H-Block street gang and several prior shootings. In order to prevent further acts of gun violence, whether committed by or against this individual, the Youth Violence Strike Force set up surveillance near his home on Brookledge Street and soon observed him, Angelo West, and another man leave the residence. The surveillance officer saw this individual clutching his waistband in a manner consistent with an unsecured firearm.
“Shortly before 6:40 pm, the three men entered a silver Nissan Murano SUV. Mr. West was driving, the surveillance target was in the front passenger seat, and the third man was in the back seat. The surveillance officer relayed this information to additional officers via radio, noting that they appeared to be suspicious and possibly armed.
“As the Nissan left Brookledge Street, additional officers began to follow it in two unmarked cars and observed it fail to stop at a stop sign as it turned onto Humboldt Avenue. At this time, Officer John Moynihan activated his lights and sirens to conduct a motor vehicle stop. The Nissan continued to accelerate and decelerate for a few blocks before pulling over at the corner of Humboldt and Ruthven streets.
“Officer Moynihan pulled his cruiser behind the Nissan and Officer James Conley pulled alongside and just ahead of the Nissan.
“I should note for the record that Officer Conley and I are not related.
“What followed is widely known, as Commissioner Evans and I released the video footage that captured it last year. Officer Moynihan, Officer Janet Lewis, and Officer Brian Johnson exited their car and approached the Nissan on foot. Officer Moynihan approached the driver’s door while Officers Lewis and Johnson approached the rear passenger’s side door. The windows were darkly tinted, so Officer Johnson opened the rear passenger door so he could see inside. Officer Moynihan tapped on the driver’s door and asked Mr. West to step out of the vehicle.
“At about this time, Officers Brian Ball and James Conley and Trooper William Cameron exited their vehicle and began to approach the rear of the Nissan. Trooper Cameron is a State Police trooper who was assigned at the time to the Youth Violence Strike Force. He, like all the officers involved in this incident, approached the Nissan with his service weapon holstered.
“The video evidence and witness statements all establish that Officer Moynihan opened the Nissan’s driver’s side door to allow Mr. West to step out of the SUV. Without warning or provocation, Mr. West raised a Rossi .357 Magnum revolver and fired directly at Officer Moynihan’s face. But for the fact that the weapon was loaded with .38 caliber ammunition, Officer Moynihan would undoubtedly have been killed. Instead, he fell to the ground grievously wounded.
“Mr. West ducked for a moment, then began to run across Humboldt Avenue, continuing to fire at the officers. His revolver was recovered at the scene with six empty shell casings in the cylinder. One .38 caliber projectile was recovered from Officer Moynihan’s head during surgery at Boston Medical Center, one was recovered from the driver’s door of the Nissan, one was recovered inside a residence on Ruthven Street, and one was recovered from the middle of Humboldt Avenue. Because he was using a revolver, we can’t say for certain whether he fired only these four rounds or whether he also fired two more that were not recovered. What we can say is that any of them could have struck an innocent bystander.
“Trooper Cameron, Officer Ball, and Officer Johnson returned fire against what any reasonable person would perceive as a deadly threat to themselves and the public at large. Trooper Cameron fired six rounds. Officer Johnson fired two rounds. Officer Ball fired 16 rounds. Mr. West was struck four times and died at the scene. Five bullets were recovered at autopsy – one .45 caliber projectile fired by Trooper Cameron, two .40 caliber projectiles fired by Officer Ball, and two projectiles from earlier, unrelated shootings in which Mr. West had been the victim. The Medical Examiner also recovered 14 bags of crack cocaine from Mr. West’s person and provided them to Boston Police. This is significant because Mr. West had told others in the weeks preceding the shooting that he would rather die than go back to jail. Additionally, a 49-year-old woman in a car on Humboldt Avenue was struck in the shoulder by a round fired by Officer Ball, and she was treated at Boston Medical Center.
“Under Massachusetts law, a person is justified in using lethal force in self-defense when he or she is confronted with the threat of death or serious injury. That’s the standard we considered when we declined to charge six civilians in the past 10 years who used lethal force to defend themselves against aggressors. But it’s hard to imagine a more chilling example of that standard than what the officers faced here: an armed gunman who had already shot one a police officer and continued to fire at others.
“The evidence from a wide variety of sources shows very clearly that Mr. West posed a real and immediate threat to every other person in the area that evening, and that the officers were justified in their actions.
“Under our policy of transparency, you’ll have the opportunity to review this evidence for yourselves – an opportunity that, to my knowledge, no other prosecutor’s office in the country affirmatively provides. We have taken this step in every fatal police shooting for more than 10 years. And as you know, we also released some of the video evidence in this case much earlier than we normally do – a step we expect to take whenever it won’t taint witness statements or prejudice a potential prosecution. Cases like this one are under greater scrutiny than ever. We in Boston not only withstand that scrutiny – we welcome it.
“I’d like to offer Commissioner Evans and Colonel McKeon the chance to say a few words.”
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