Heavily armed and armored gunman Kirk Figueroa, shot dead in Wednesday's firefight in East Boston, told one of his roommates he intended to die famous — right before police say he opened fire with a tactical shotgun, critically injuring two officers before other officers fatally shot him, reports the Boston Herald.
"He said, 'You're going to read about me in the newspaper. Everyone is going to know my name,'" said Julian Morello, the younger brother of Diego Morello, who lived with 33-year-old Figueroa. "I don't know if he planned it or what."
A domestic dispute brought police to their Gladstone Street home at 10:51 p.m. The call quickly became a life-and-death struggle, with witnesses reporting as many as 50 gunshots.
"(We are) trying to figure out what exactly could have been a motive," Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh said. "Where this man was coming from, this hasn't been established yet…it's going to be complicated to get to the root of this," the Boston Herald reports.
The mayor said the initial police call was for a domestic disturbance at the home, and one of the possible causes for the call was a dispute over the heat in the apartment. Walsh said there seems to be more to the situation than turning the heat up or down, noting police said Figueroa was well armed and wearing a bullet-proof vest.
"We don't know what sparked it. As they continue to investigate and talk to (Figueroa's) family and extended family, they will be able to get a better picture of who our two police officers encountered that night," Walsh told reporters at Boston Common following a gun control rally. "It's still clearly unfolding. (He) seems like a very complicated individual. Obviously there are some aliases in other states and a lot of arrests and violence and things like that. It's still unfolding. We are going to continue to look at the background and get a better sense of who he is."
Figueroa was a Boston constable sworn in this summer and had a background check done on him by Boston police before the license was issued. Police were prohibited from conducting a background check on a federal level.
