Union Leader Correpondent
SALEM -- Officials have identifi ed the allegedly armed man shot by police during an incident in Salem Thursday as 51-year-old Larry Minassian of Salem.
Minassian remains in serious condition at a Boston hospital where he is being treated for “several” wounds, said Assistant Attorney General Ben Agati Friday afternoon.
Salem police first responded to Minassian’s home at 155 South Policy St. in Salem at 10:37 a.m. Thursday, following reports of a possibly suicidal man armed with a large knife outside the home, according to police. Neighbors said Minassian lived alone.
When officers arrived on scene, Minassian was “making threats of suicide” and was “armed with at least one knife,” according to a news release from the state Attorney General’s Office.
Few details have been released surrounding the incident, but Agati said “several” officers were involved.
Salem Deputy Police Chief Shawn Patten said Friday that “several” officers had been placed on administrative leave following Thursday’s shooting.
“It’s not disciplinary in nature,” Patten said Friday of the administrative leaves. “Any time officers are involved in a high-stress situation, you want to give them a few days off to go through a debriefing and get their heads back in the game.”
Patten said the officers will meet with a police crisis intervention team and will be allowed to return to work as soon as they feel ready.
The state Attorney General’s Office and state police have taken over the investigation, as is always the case with an officer-involved shooting, Agati said.
“(The investigation) usually takes several weeks,” he said. “Obviously the condition of the person who was shot is first on our minds, but then the rest is to determine how many witnesses were present and make sure that we are conducting our own interviews.”
Agati said he could not comment on whether or not Minassian would face charges out of Thursday’s incident.
“It could be a situation where there are charges involving the victim, but right now we’re just investigating the shooting,” he said. “If there’s another offense in there, that would be looked at by the county attorney’s office.”
Agati said that it could be two or three weeks before a final report is released, but said preliminary findings will likely me made public before that point.
In 2005, two Salem officers were found to have been justified when they shot and killed a Salem man outside his Pleasant Street apartment.
In that case, Sgt. Wesley Decker and Officer Brian Bodenrader shot Kip Pepin, 27, seven times in the lower back and buttocks after a struggle during a February arrest.
Police said Pepin had control of a 12-gauge shotgun and was turning his body toward the two officers when they fired.
No comments:
Post a Comment