Massachusetts authorities investigating shooting deaths of two Black people as hate crime

Authorities are investigating the fatal shooting of two Black people in Winthrop, Massachusetts, on Saturday as a hate crime after discovering the “troubling white supremacist rhetoric” in the suspect’s handwriting.

The suspected shooter, Nathan Allen, 28, allegedly drove a stolen box truck into a home that was unoccupied at the time before fatally shooting David L. Green and Ramona Cooper, both of whom are Black, ABC News reports. 

According to Winthrop Police Chief Terence Delehanty, authorities arriving on scene found Cooper shot half a block from the crash site. Green attempted to stop Allen and “engaged with the suspect” in an alleyway near the crash before Allen shot him as well, The New York Times reports.

Allen died shortly after being shot by an officer at the scene. One officer was shot but did not receive a serious injury.

State police have confirmed the man shot and killed in #Winthrop yesterday was retired trooper, David Green (right). This is a picture his best friend shared with us earlier. Hear from him on @wbz pic.twitter.com/sGCMlDibne

— Lisa Gresci (@Lisa_Gresci) June 27, 2021

Green, a retired Massachusetts state trooper, was shot four times in the head and three times in the torso. Cooper, an Air Force veteran, was shot three times in the back. Green died at the scene and Cooper was later declared dead at a hospital. 

This is Ramona Cooper, who officials say was shot and killed by Nathan Allen in Winthrop yesterday. She was an Air Force veteran. Investigators believe the shootings were racially motivated, saying Allen had “troubling white supremacist rhetoric.” #WBZ pic.twitter.com/188kWlgKCo

— Kristina Rex (@KristinaRex) June 27, 2021

Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said during a press conference that Allen had “troubling white supremacist rhetoric found in [his] own handwriting,” as well as evidence of “anti-Semitic and racist statements against Black individuals.”

According to Rollins, Allen walked by several other non-Black people after the crash.

“They were not harmed,” Rollins said. “They are alive and these two visible people of color are not.”

“Trooper Green was widely respected and well liked by his fellow troopers, several of whom yesterday described him as a ‘true gentleman’ and always courteous to the public and meticulous in his duties,” Colonel Christopher Mason of the Massachusetts State Police said in a statement, according to ABC.

“From what we learned yesterday, he was held in equally high regard by his neighbors and friends in Winthrop,” Mason said.