Findings Re: Non-Fatal Shooting of William Omar Santiago
“The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office and the Chelmsford Police Department have completed the investigation into the facts and circumstances of the non-fatal shooting of William Omar Santiago, 35, of Lowell, on July 23, 2017.
This investigation concludes that, in the totality of the circumstances, the officer was justified in the use of deadly force and that there was no criminal conduct involved in the shooting of William Omar Santiago.”
Background:
The focus of this investigation was to determine whether the actions of the Chelmsford Police officer in the shooting of William Omar Santiago were criminal or whether, in the totality of the circumstances, the officer was justified in the use of deadly force.
On July 23, 2017, Chelmsford Police received notification from the Essex Emergency Communications Center in Middleton of a possible domestic 911 hang-up call they received, which was tracked to the address of 3 Clover Hill Drive in Chelmsford. As a result, at 7:39 a.m., uniformed Chelmsford Officer Brian Gervais was dispatched to respond. He was familiar with that address as a result of prior calls to that location. Uniformed Chelmsford Officer Christopher Mauti, who was also on patrol, radioed that he would respond as back-up. Gervais arrived first and approached the front door. He was met by an elderly male occupant of the residence who directed him to a bedroom down the hall to the left.
Gervais approached and knocked on the door announcing his presence as a police officer. The door was opened by William Omar Santiago who appeared to be in a rage and immediately began punching and hitting Officer Gervais with closed fists about the head and face. The barrage of punches caused Officer Gervais to bleed from the face and he began to try to block blows defensively with his arms. Santiago returned back into the room. After this initial assault by Santiago on the officer, there were a series of assaults that were committed by Santiago on Gervais and the three other officers who responded to assist in securing the safety of the female in the bedroom with Santiago. This woman was also physically assaulted by Santiago in the room as the police officers in the hallway were attempting to come to her aid. Santiago escalated his assaults on the officers. During the course of the ensuing events, Santiago would sporadically open the door and throw objects – first a hammer, “tomahawk-style” at Officers Gervais and Mauti, then large pieces as well as shards of heavy, broken glass, at the officers – Mead, Leary, Mauti and Gervais. The large pieces of glass were wielded like a spear and the smaller ones wielded like martial arts fighting stars, and a sharp, pointed piece of wood, all as the female was screaming and yelling for help.
The officers first attempted to quell Santiago’s violent rampage, without weapons, then by two of the officers deploying their department-issued tasers and then, when all available options were exhausted, Officer Kristin Leary fired two rounds from her department-issued firearm, which stopped Santiago’s assault and allowed for the female to be freed from the room and Santiago to be arrested.
Santiago was transported first to Lowell General Hospital and then by med-flight to Tufts New England Medical Center in Boston, where he was treated and released the following day, July 24, 2017, from the hospital.
Massachusetts State Police Lieutenant Paul Bulman and Massachusetts State Police Trooper Anthony Delucia attempted to interview Mr. Santiago at the hospital, but he declined to speak to them, before attempting to escape from police custody at the hospital and assaulting the Chelmsford uniformed officer guarding him and Lieutenant Bulman and Trooper Delucia.
The investigation included interviews of all responding police officers and civilian witnesses; examination of ballistic evidence found at the scene; and a review of radio transmissions and police reports.
The audio of the radio transmissions is available at the links below:
Chelmsford Police Radio Transmissions:
The redacted report can be viewed below. The following report is being released in redacted form according to the Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 3.4: Fairness to Opposing Party and Counsel to protect the integrity of an open criminal case currently pending against Mr. Santiago as well as to protect Mr. Santiago’s right to a fair trial. Witness testimony and the names of victim and civilian witnesses have been redacted.
Upon the conclusion of the prosecution the full unredacted report will be available.
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