One of the police officers involved is going to lose an eye
From the Standard-Times website:
NEW BEDFORD — A gunman sprayed the Foxy Lady strip club on Popes Island with bullets from an M-16-style rifle early this morning, killing two club employees and injuring two New Bedford police officers.
The gunman was also killed during the shootout, although it was unclear whether he killed himself or was gunned down by police.
Police said they believe the shooting was the result of a domestic dispute.
Foxy Lady owner Tom Tsoumas identified the gunman as Scott C. Medeiros of Freetown. He said Mr. Medeiros, 35, had been in a relationship with a female bartender that ended badly. Mr. Medeiros was turned away from the club by one of his victims, floor manager Robert Carreiro of New Bedford, two weeks ago.
Mr. Carreiro, 33, and Tori Marandos, 30, general manager of the Foxy Lady clubs in both New Bedford and Providence, were both killed, according to Mr. Tsoumas.
At least two other people were believed to be injured.
One of the police officers has been identified as Joshua Fernandes, who was shot in the mouth and had the bullet exit from his eye. According to police, he will lose his sight in that eye. He was taken to Rhode Island Hospital.
The second police officer is Steve Wardman, who was shot in the arm and hip. He was taken to St. Luke's Hospital.
Online extras
Audio clip: Reporters interview witness Nick Santiago, cab driver
Audio clip: Photographer Peter Pereira describes the scene this morning
Jessica Blair, a waitress who was working at the time of the shooting said Mr. Medeiros entered the club holding an M-16-style rifle and "said he wasn't there for the girls, he was there for the guys, then he just started spraying."
She said he came into the club's kitchen entrance wearing body armor and a ski mask. He herded the girls into a dressing room and eventually allowed them to leave.
"He just said 'This isn't a joke,'" Ms. Blair said. "We all thought it was a joke. We didn't think the gun was real.'"
A frightened cab driver said he saw the gunman engaged in a firefight with police outside the club.
Nick Santiago, a Yellow Cab driver, said that when he pulled up to the Popes Island club just after 2 a.m to look for a closing-time fare, he saw a puzzling scene at the front door.
"The two girls were pulling out a body out of the door," he said. "I was driving by, and I drove slowly, and I asked them what was going on."
That's when the gunman — who was dressed in military-type gear with a bush hat — addressed him.
"I advise you to move the f--- out of here." Mr. Santiago said the man told him. "He said 'If not I'm going to get killed.'"
"I told him, 'Yeah, I'm going to move!'"
He said the gunman let him and the two women who work at the club go but he aimed his fire at police, who pulled up to the scene just after 2 a.m.
"As the cops were pulling in, the guy that was at the door — he was shooting, and it was one right after the other, and so the girls, panicked, they ran from him — they had time to run — and they ran in my cab and I took them out of there."
One of the women was a waitress at the club, the other was her friend, Mr. Santiago said.
Mr. Santiago said the two women he took away from the club told him the alleged assailant was a regular customer.
The scene when the police arrived was chaotic, he said.
"No matter what he kept on shooting and it was an M-16, a semi-automatic," he said.
"There were like 10 to 15 shots at the time."
Mr. Santiago said the shooter looked like he was dressed for combat.
"He had a black suit on. He had a bullet-proof vest. He looked like a soldier," he said.
The man who had been dragged out the front door "looked really bad. His eyes were twitching over," he said.
"What I saw was a tragedy here. I got scared myself. I was thinking of my kids because I thought I was going to get shot." He has only worked as a cab driver for about a month, Mr. Santiago said.
The standoff evidently began shortly before 2 at the establishment near the New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge when several 911 calls were made to police about a heavily armed gunman at the establishment.
Police said about a dozen patrons were in the strip club when the incident began.
Police confirmed that one of the weapons was a M-16 rifle.
Department spokesman Capt. Richard Spirlet said that, at one point, a special reaction and SWAT team stormed the building.
Mr. Medeiros is believed to have died of a self-inflicted wound after that.
Capt. Spirlet said he couldn't confirm that Mr. Medeiros killed himself, but he was "99 percent" it was self-inflicted.
The alleged assailant was wearing camouflage and had several other weapons, police said. There was a report of a bag left outside the establishment and the state police bomb unit is checking on it.
Capt. Spirlet said the injured officers drove themselves to St. Luke's Hospital and both are expected to survive.
"How close can you get besides being shot on the face and surviving," Capt. Spirlet said. "We're very fortunate. This could have been a lot worse situation."
Mayor Scott W. Lang said he spoke with both officers at St. Luke's Hospital.
"They were very, very concerned about their fellow officers, they were concerned about the scene," he said. "They were not concerned about themselves."
The captain said he arrived at the scene as the incident was still unfolding.
"I drove a cruiser up and put an injured guy in the back of my car," he said. "He was shot through both legs."
At one point, he said, he jumped into a cruiser that was riddled with bullet holes, with four blown tires, and drove to a position where it was shielding the fleeing shooting victims from their assailant.
"I took the disabled vehicle and ran it down, so it would block the shooter," he said.
Police said that, at one point, after an exchange of gun fire with police, hostage negotiators talked to Mr. Medeiros. After that, several of the roughly 12 hostages inside the club filed out through a back door.
One of the two fatalities were shot near the Foxy Lady's door, while the other was struck inside the club, Capt. Spirlet said. The gunman was shot on the sidewalk, he said.
The captain said the police have a mobile command center set up at the Foxy Lady and are still investigating the scene.
The Emergency Room at St. Luke's is under lockdown while police gather evidence. However emergency vehicles and patients will be allowed in for treatment.
State police helicopters and K-9 units were called to the scene and the helicopter hovered over the area for more than an hour.
Mayor Lang said he was awakened by the sound of gunshots shortly after 2 a.m. last night, and phoned police Chief Ronald Teachman to ask him "what the hell was going on" and drove to the scene.
"They were like cannon shots," Mayor Lang said. "Those rifle shots resonated as a cannon across the city."
Mayor Lang expressed disbelief at how Mr. Medeiros was able to obtain such firepower.
"It doesn't make any damn sense," he said. "That's firepower that it's questionable even our SWAT team has."
Mayor Lang blamed a society desensitized to violence on yesterday's deadly rampage.
"The violence and chaos that he carried here is something we can't tolerate in this city," he said. "We got to wake up as a country on this stuff. This is not only New Bedford."