Here’s the statement that Mayor Michelle Wu should have made after an off-duty police officer shot and killed a man brandishing a knife inside a Back Bay Chick-fil-A Saturday: “We’d like to thank, first and foremost, the off-duty Boston Police officer who stepped up and took charge of a dangerous situation.
“We’d like to thank him for risking his life, and we’re grateful that he gets to return to his loved ones after the encounter. Police take on dangerous assignments daily. Not all get to come home. We’d like to thank them, and their families, for shouldering this burden.”
The Boston Police Detectives Benevolent Society posted on social media: “It is a testament to the commitment your officers have to their beloved City and a reminder that they are never truly ‘off duty.’ ”
Our thanks go out to all BPD officers, those who stop crimes from being committed, who arrest those who commit them, who take guns and drugs off our streets, who have our backs every day.
The Chick-fil-A scene was chaotic Saturday. “The individual … attempted to stab the two individuals involved,” Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox said.
“The off-duty officer identified himself as a police officer, instructed him to drop the weapon and at this point the individual did not comply,” Cox continued. “At this point, the individual discharged his weapon to stop the threat.”
We can only imagine what could have happened had the officer not been on-site and acted as he did. It’s possible city leaders would be offering condolences to the families of people stabbed to death on a cold Saturday inside a Copley Square restaurant while onlookers watched in horror.
Thanks to that officer, they didn’t have to issue that statement, but Wu made one that grabbed attention and outrage.
“My condolences and all of our thoughts are with the family of the individual whose life has been lost,” Wu said from the scene Saturday night.
The mayor offered her condolences to the attacker before she said she was “thinking of all of the people who were impacted here today” and that she was “glad the officer is safe and very grateful for a quick response from all of our first responders.”
Third on the list.
That sends a message. That sets a tone. If we want people to respect law enforcement, the example must come from the top.
This is not to say that the family of the alleged assailant, identified as Lemark Jaramillo, doesn’t have its own burden to bear.
A Jaramillo family spokeswoman, who asked not be be quoted by name, told the Herald Monday her family is “grieving,” and Lemark was “not a violent man.”
She said he was “hard working” and had “a loving family.” She added they feel “horrible for the people in the restaurant and the officer. … It’s a tragedy for everyone.”
As for the off-duty officer, she said, “It must be traumatic for him,” and she was “sorry he was put in that situation.” She lamented that many officers make it through an entire career without having to take a life.
Even in her grief, that Jaramillo family spokesperson understands the gravity of the situation.
City Councilor Ed Flynn issued a social media post Sunday morning, one that Wu should have made Saturday night.
“Thank you for your courage, dedication and bravery to keep residents safe,” Flynn said. “We support your heroic action and stand with you and your family.”
Hear, hear.
