Photo courtesy of the Boston Herald.
Summary: The man suspected of killing Weymouth police officer Michael Chesna had a prior criminal record.
A police officer in Weymouth, Massachusetts was supposed to celebrate his six-year anniversary, but he was allegedly gunned down by a 20-year-old with a criminal history. According to the Boston Herald, “The 20-year-old Brockton native accused of executing Weymouth police Officer Michael Chesna with Chesna’s service weapon and then killing an innocent woman in the sanctity of her home yesterday had battled with department members and used a rock as a weapon before, according to court documents.”
Chesna had responded to a report that someone was driving a BMW erratically on Sunday morning. Chesna had been trying to find the driver of the car when he saw the suspect vandalizing a home. Chesna approached the suspect, Emmanuel A. Lopes, who then attacked him and shot him with the officer’s gun. The bullets also killed Vera Adams, 77, a woman who was inside.
Lopes, 20, had been free on $500 bail since November. He was arrested in October for dealing cocaine to minors and resisting arrest. He was due for a discovery hearing on July 30.
In his arrest papers, police noted that they had fought with him before and that he was homeless at the time. As part of his bail conditions, he was required to remain drug and alcohol-free but he had not appeared at a mandatory drug screening on February 7. He had appeared at a pretrial probation hearing on April 25 and was allowed to remain free.
Prior to the October arrest, he had been arrested in September for throwing a rock through a bedroom window.
Lopes also used a rock when he fought with police officer Chesna. The criminal had taken a rock to disable Chesna who had been pursuing him on foot following a car crash, and after he got Chesna’s gun, he shot the 42-year-old with it.
Police officers had arrived at the scene and exchanged gunfire. Lopes sustained a wound to his leg and is receiving medical care.
Lopes has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, possessing a firearm without a license, destruction of property, negligent operation of a motor vehicle and leaving the scene of an accident. He is expected to be arraigned on Tuesday.
On Monday, hundreds of police officers lined up for a procession route from the medical examiner’s office in Boston to a funeral home in Weymouth.
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