A homeless man allegedly stabbed two park rangers repeatedly Tuesday by the Soldiers and Sailors monument on the Boston Common Tuesday, leaving one ranger in critical condition.
“Our prayers are with both of the rangers,” said Boston Police Commissioner William Evans at a press conference Tuesday night. “We have good witnesses and good video, and we’re confident in the suspect we have that’s responsible for this.”
Boston Police Department responded to scene at about 4:36 p.m. One of the victims, a long-time park ranger, remains in critical condition at Massachusetts General Hospital, Evans said at a press conference. The other victim is being treated at Tufts Medical Center and is not in critical condition.
“One of the park rangers is a 20-year veteran and 46-year-old sergeant,” Evans said of the victim at MassGeneral. “His wounds are described by the hospital staff as critical at this time. [He suffered] multiple stab wounds, the more severe being in his abdomen.”
The suspect, 34-year-old homeless man Bodio Hutchinson, allegedly lunged at the park rangers and stabbed them repeatedly after being confronted by the officers. Hutchinson had two prior arrest warrants, one for the assault and battery of a police officer and another for drug charges, Evans said.
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, who also attended the press conference, said multiple witnesses saw the confrontation and stayed with the suspect until emergency officials responded.
“Clearly there was a confrontation that was unprovoked by the individual. He wanted to stab both officers, stabbing both of them multiple times,” he said. “Great response by the public and great work by Officers [Ed] MacPherson, Bates, from our department here to respond and bring this guy into custody.”
Walsh said there are two to four officers in Boston Common at any given time, all of who have worked in the past to diffuse various situations without incident.
Evans said witnesses filmed the scene on their smartphones.
“Citizens responded quickly,” Evans said. “The public was very instrumental. They helped follow the individual that was involved in this incident. Our officers were able to apprehend the suspect in the Boston Public Garden close to the Arlington Street side and bring him into custody.”
Park rangers are trained in self-defense and in proper use of pepper spray and batons, but do not carry firearms, said Boston Park Ranger Chief Gene Survillo at the press conference.
Jackson Marchant, a student at Emerson College, was one of the first to respond to the victims.
“Before the cops came to help, even before the ambulance came, we were there for like three minutes with the cop just holding his stomach, bleeding,” he said. “There were a lot of people helping him, so I wasn’t going to interfere.”
Nicholas Rusk, an Emerson College student, said after the incident, Hutchinson was being chased by two police officers.
“I was over at the Frog Pond, just watching some ducks, then a guy comes running and two cops were chasing him,” he said. “One stops, then he stops, and he started taunting them, saying ‘Shoot me, shoot me,’ because there was a group of people.”
Christian Comazzi, 40, of Boston, said she witnessed the scene from the Public Garden Lagoon.
“There were two undercover cops that took the guy down, right by the ducklings [in the Public Gardens],” he said. “A couple of us were watching. We weren’t sure if an officer might have drawn a gun on the guy, so it seemed like something serious was going on, and then after that, the plainclothes officers got their hands on the guy, two dressed officers came by and took the guy down.”
