Man claiming to have bomb, rifle fatally shot by police

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    WORCESTER, Massachusetts (WCVB) — A man claiming to have a rifle and bomb was shot and killed by police in Worcester Tuesday night, officials said.

Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early said police received a 911 call at 10:40 p.m. from Phet Gouvonvong, 31, who was claiming to have an explosive device and a rifle. Officials said the man was threatening to detonate the device.

Worcester police, a SWAT team and police negotiators responded to Grafton Street, near the Cumberland Farms and Dunkin’, where they encountered Gouvonvong, who appeared to have a rifle, Early said.

Gouvonvong was wearing body armor and carrying a backpack, officials said. Early said the man continued to tell negotiators that a bomb would go off.

Negotiations continued both over the phone with the emergency department and with four negotiators at the scene, Early said.

“Upon arrival, they observed a man who appeared to be heavily armed. He had what appeared to be an assault rifle, body armor, a backpack and an explosive device,” Early said. “While the negotiations were going on, the man appeared to get more and more agitated, was making furtive movements.”

As a result of those movements, Gouvovong was shot and pronounced dead at the scene just after midnight, Early said.

Early said Gouvonvong was found to be in possession of a handgun and “multiple rounds of ammunition.”

Police were in the process of searching Gouvonvong’s apartment.

The incident remains under investigation, and officials urged anyone who witnessed the incident to call police.

Worcester Police Department Lt. Sean Murtha said the officer involved was placed on administrative leave. The officer’s name has not been released.

“It’s always a very stressful thing for the officers involved. We have spoken to (the officer) and he appears to be doing OK right now,” Murtha said. “We do train for all kinds of strange occurrences like this.”

Residents who heard the commotion said at first they thought they heard fireworks.

“I could hear him screaming, and then all of a sudden, you just heard three or four gunshots,” neighbor Anita Perez said.

Neighbor Eddie Ramos was headed to Cumberland Farms when he said he saw police trying to talk with the man.

“He did say something about a bomb,” Ramos said. “He goes, ‘It’s too late,’ and that’s when I heard pow, pow, pow — three shots and he dropped. He didn’t say a word.”

Grafton Street was blocked off for hours as police and the bomb squad investigated.

“It’s a little scary, you know, to think it’s, what, a block away,” neighbor Ruthann Cross said.

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