Thread: MA - Police seek ID of suspect in Woburn officer shooting

WOBURN - Authorities are asking for the public’s help in identifying a man charged in the shooting of a Woburn police officer during an attempted robbery.

Officer Robert DeNapoli was seriously injured Tuesday when he was shot while responding to reports of a robbery at a jewelry store. An unidentified man was also injured when he was shot during the robbery attempt. He remains hospitalized in serious condition.

Authorities, who have been unable to identify the man, released photos Thursday of his tattoos, saying they hope someone will recognize them and call police. One of the tattoos shows Atlas holding up the earth on his back. Above that are the Spanish words, "El Mundo es Mio," meaning "the world is mine."

Police are still looking for additional suspects.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/region ... _shooting/

Relative ID’s wounded jewelry heist suspect

The suspect charged with shooting a police officer during the attempted robbery of a jewelry store in Woburn this week was identified by a relative yesterday, authorities said.

Antonio Matos, 25, of Lattimore Court in Boston, was identified by an unnamed relative after authorities released images of his tattoos yesterday in seeking the public’s help to identify him. Matos had been hospitalized after being shot by police and authorities did not know his name.

Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. and Woburn Acting Police Chief Richard Kelley said in a statement earlier yesterday that they hoped “photographs of the defendant’s distinctive tattoos’’ would help in the identification of the suspect.

Matos has a tattoo of Atlas holding up the world on his back, with the words “El Mundo es Mio,’’ Spanish for “The world is mine,’’ above the image.

A woman who answered the phone last night at a number listed for Matos said in Spanish that she had nothing to say and hung up.

Matos also has a tattoo of the black ankh, an Egyptian hieroglyphic character.

State and Woburn police received calls at 11:06 a.m. on Tuesday about a robbery at Musto Jewelers at 186 Cambridge St. in Woburn.

Upon arrival, officers engaged in a shootout with the suspects.

A 16-year veteran of the Woburn Police Department, Officer Robert DeNapoli, 51, was shot by one of the suspects and is hospitalized at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington. He was shot seven times and is expected to recover slowly.

DeNapoli was working a funeral detail when the jewelry store at the nearby Four Corners crossroads reported a robbery. He was one of the first officers to reach the scene and immediately found himself under heavy fire.

Witnesses said one suspect, a tall man dressed in black, shot DeNapoli several times at close range from the hood of his cruiser, even as a wounded DeNapoli lay defenseless on the ground.

Detective Ralph Coakley said it was a blessing that DeNapoli survived the shooting that witnesses said looked like an attempted execution. He said police are shaken by the shooting.

“We’re trained police officers, but I don’t think you can ever be fully prepared for something like this,’’ he said. “We’re maintaining.’’

Matos was shot by police and seriously injured and is also hospitalized at the Lahey Clinic. Authorities said they do not know when he will be arraigned, given his medical condition.

Matos has been charged with two counts of masked armed robbery and two counts of assault with the intent to murder.

Authorities are searching for three other suspects in the attempted heist and shootout.

Police are also looking for a gray Toyota Camry the fleeing suspects used after the attempted theft.

The Camry, with a Massachusetts license plate of 77HB52, was reported stolen before the robbery, according to authorities.

Police asked anyone with information to call State Police detectives at 781-897-6650 or Woburn detectives at 781-933-1212.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... ocal_Links