BOSTON (AP) - The parking valet shot outside a prominent Boston hospital this month was struck by a bullet fired by a police officer targeting a man brandishing what turned out to be a replica gun, the city’s top prosecutor said Tuesday.
The valet, shot in the eye, survived and is recovering, Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins and police Commissioner William Gross said at a joint news conference to discuss the preliminary investigation into the shooting.
“I’m just grateful he’s alive and in good spirits,” Gross said.
His name was not released but he is 49, authorities said.
Police responded to a report of a man with a gun near Brigham and Women’s Hospital threatening security at about 9:20 a.m. on Feb. 7, authorities said.
The man, later identified as Juston Root, 41, fled in a car and led police on a chase until he crashed near a shopping center about three miles away in Brookline. Root was shot and killed by police after being ordered several times to drop the weapon, police have said.
His gun was a non-working but realistic-looking replica, Rollins said.
Root had a history of mental illness, his parents said in previous interviews.
The investigation into whether deadly force was justified is continuing.
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