Man dead after machete attack

[TheeBadOne]

FALL RIVER -- After refusing to drop the machete he was brandishing in the driveway of his third-floor tenement, a 33-year-old man identified by neighbors as Noe Jimenes of 22 Danforth St. was shot and killed by police officers at approximately 5:15 p.m. Monday evening.


Police said that when officers first arrived at the scene, they ordered Jimenes to drop the weapon. Refusing the police officers’ request, the officers attempted to stun Jimenes, firing four beanbag rounds from a shotgun. The beanbags had no effect on Jimenes, police said, and he continued to advance toward the officers.

None of his neighbors would identify the cause of his anger or the reasons why he was waving the machete.

Witnesses said police drew their service weapons and fired three shots at Jimenes, striking him twice in the chest and once in an eye, a neighbor told The Herald News.

"We have always heard that police are supposed to shoot at the legs," said Sarah, a neighbor from the first floor of 22 Danforth St. who refused to give her last name.

She said there were at least a dozen people in or around the driveway who saw Jimenes’ altercation with police.

Jimenes was taken to Charlton Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Five hours after the shooting, dozens of Fall River police and Massachusetts State Police troopers were still surrounding the Danforth Street driveway, and a police tape cordoned off at least two city blocks.

Neighbors said Jimenes worked in Westport and moved here from Honduras eight months ago. They said he had two sons and one daughter in Honduras.

"The police kept yelling at him from four feet away, pointing the guns at him to drop the machete," said Erlin, who also lives on the first floor.

"He was trying to give up," said one neighbor, who admitted that Jimenes did raise his hands but would not relinquish the machete in doing so.

An investigation is under way, involving detectives from the Major Crimes Division, the District Attorney’s Office and the Office of Professional Standards.




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