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April 19, 2006

Update: Pawtucket officer's bullet killed robbery suspect

Journal photo / Bill Murphy
Pawtucket police Maj. John J. Whiting, center, gives details after a City Hall press conference this morning of the shooting by a Pawtucket officer.

PAWTUCKET -- A police spokesman confirmed this afternoon that a robbery suspect was killed by a policeman's bullet, not by the car accident that immediately followed the shooting.

John D. Martins, 47, of 33 Rodman St. in Providence, was shot to death yesterday by Pawtucket Patrolman Jeffrey S. Allen outside the Cumberland Farms on the corner of East and Pidge Avenues at about 10:20 a.m.

Martins had rammed Allen's patrol car, prompting the policeman to fire three shots before Martins briefly escaped the scene, crashing about a block away.

Pawtucket police Maj. John Whiting said that Martins was hit by at least one bullet, that entered the left middle part of his back, went through his left lung, heart and aorta before becoming lodged in his body.

The medical examiner determined that Martins lost about half the blood from his body as a result of the shooting, according to Whiting.

The state police is investigating the shooting and will turn over its results to the Attorney General's Office to determine whether the shooting was justified.

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Talia Buford

Posted by Steve Peoples  at 2:43 PM | Permalink

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