The fatal execution-style shooting of two Black people in Massachusetts is now being investigated as a hate crime.
What We Know:
- David L. Green, 58, and Ramona Cooper, 60, were shot multiple times on Saturday by Nathan Allen, 28 in Winthrop, MA. Allen crashed a stolen box truck at a high speed into a car and a building, injuring two people. He got out of the truck, walked past a group of non-Black people, and shot Cooper three times in the back and Green four times in the head and three times in the torso. Green died at the scene and Cooper was taken to a local hospital, where she died from injuries. Police shot and killed Allen upon arrival, after ordering him to drop his weapons.
- Green was ex-military and a former Massachusetts State Trooper who served in law enforcement for 36 years. He retired from the force in 2016 and was said to be “widely respected, well-liked by his fellow Troopers, and always courteous to the public and meticulous in his duties.” Green, who lived near the accident site, was sitting outside when he heard the crash and ran over to help. Nick Tsiotos, Green’s longtime friend, told WCVB-TV that Green spent his life saving lives and that he “probably stopped [Allen] from going into homes and killing people.”
- Cooper was a former Air Force staff sergeant and worked with the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. She leaves behind her son, two grandchildren, and her twin sister. Her family said she was a caring and selfless woman, and would always help others in need.
- Allen had no criminal history and recently had one of the many “pandemic weddings” of 2020. He and his wife were married at a West Boylston nursing home, so his wife’s grandfather could be involved and had the wedding published in the Boston Globe. Allen was working towards becoming a physical therapist and just finished up his Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
- Police found “troubling white supremacist rhetoric” in Allen’s handwriting, as well as “anti-Semitic and racist statements against Black individuals” written on his hand. No word yet on where Allen was headed, but the crash site was near multiple synagogues. Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins has stated that Allen drew swastikas and wrote about white people being “apex predators,” a predator at the top of a food chain.
“Citizens of Winthrop offered help because they thought this individual, Nathan Allen, had just gotten in an accident, but they are alive and these two visible people of color are not,” said Rollins.
Allen did have a license to carry and was said to have appeared “unassuming” to most people, as he had a wife, Ph.D., and pass the background check to obtain a gun. At the moment Rollin’s investigation is in the preliminary stages, but she plans on uncovering Allen’s motive for the killings.
