BOSTON, May 8, 2017—The man who allegedly killed Lina Bolanos and Richard Field in their South Boston home on Friday night was held without bail at his arraignment today on two counts of murder, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.
BAMPUMIM TEIXEIRA (D.O.B. 10/17/86) of Chelsea was arraigned in his hospital bed at Tufts Medical Center, where he is being treated for gunshot wounds sustained during his encounter with Boston Police as they responded to an urgent call for an intruder armed with a gun at the victims’ Dorchester Avenue residence.
Suffolk Chief Trial Counsel John Pappas told South Boston Municipal Court Judge Michael Bolden that Boston Police received a call from the front desk of the multi-unit dwelling just before 8:40 pm. The caller stated that another party had alerted him to a text requesting police notification for a “serious situation” with a gunman in the victims’ apartment. Boston Police received a second call, this time from the second party, who again described the text message and later provided it to investigators.
Responding Boston Police officers found a set of keys on the floor outside the door of the victims’ 11th floor residence. After knocking and repeatedly announcing themselves as police, they used the key to open the door.
The officers entered to perform a protective sweep of the darkened residence and soon encountered an unknown person – later identified as Teixeira – wearing dark clothing. Believing this person either pointed or fired a weapon at them, two officers discharged their own weapons and struck him in the hand, abdomen, and leg. The officers provided first aid to Teixeira outside the apartment, where he allegedly stated that another person would open fire on the officers if they went back inside.
Teixeira was transported to the hospital and a Boston Police entry team was called to the scene. They secured the residence and found both Bolanos and Field deceased, having suffered “obvious trauma,” Pappas said. Inside the apartment, investigators found a black backpack full of jewelry, as well as a replica firearm and at least one knife, prosecutors said.
In addition to being held without bail on the two murder charges, Teixeira was held for violating the terms of his probation following his nine-month incarceration on two larceny convictions.
Teixeira pleaded guilty last year to passing notes and demanding money from a downtown bank on two occasions. No weapon was shown and no injuries were sustained in either incident. The first case involved passing a note demanding money at a Summer Street bank on June 30, 2016. The second case arose out of an earlier incident that had gone unsolved for almost two years: he volunteered his responsibility for it, unbidden, during his interview with the FBI Bank Robbery Task Force after he was identified in the 2016 case.
Steven Sack represented Teixeira at today’s proceedings. The case will return to court on June 8.
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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
