BOURNE, Mass. — Three members of the Coast Guard were involved in a violent confrontation at a Massachusetts condo complex early Thursday that left one woman shot to death, another woman and a police officer wounded and the suspected shooter in custody.
Coast Guard spokesman Ross Ruddell said the two women involved were stationed on Cape Cod, while the man suspected of being the shooter was stationed in Virginia. Ruddell said he could not disclose their names or how they knew each other.
Police said the suspect set a vehicle on fire to block the only road into the condo complex and set up homemade bombs in the area.
The suspect was taken into custody at gunpoint about a half hour after the 2:15 a.m. attack. One woman was pronounced dead at the scene, while the wounded woman and the officer were taken to area hospitals.
What started as a response to resident reports of a vehicle on fire at the Roundhouse Road complex turned into a “crazy and hectic scene,” Bourne police Chief Dennis Woodside said.
He said police received a 911 call from one of the victims inside a unit at the complex.
Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe called the shooting of the officer “an ambush.”
Officers made their way around the burning vehicle on foot and were pinned down by gunfire.
The wounded officer, shot in the back, below his bullet-proof vest, took cover between two vehicles; his colleagues unable to reach him.
He described the injured officer as a veteran with at least 10 years of service.
The officer lay injured for about 15 minutes before the suspect was arrested. Even then, police remained wary because they were not aware if there were other gunmen still at large.
Two colleagues grabbed the injured officer and carried him through the woods and snow so he could be taken to the hospital, where he has been stabilized and is improving, the chief said.
The state police bomb squad responded to the scene to examine what are suspected of being hoax devices found placed nearby, allegedly by the shooting suspect.
At 2:48 a.m., after police apprehended the suspect outside, they made their way to the unit where they found two women who had been shot, one of whom was already dead.
Residents were at first told to stay inside their units, but Woodside later said the area is safe.
He did not disclose any other details, or a motive.
It’s not clear when the suspect would be arraigned.
The Coast Guard is helping in the investigation.