Authorities said officers opened fire after the suspect drove a stolen vehicle into a Boston police cruiser late Wednesday night.
BOSTON — Boston police have identified the man killed in an officer-involved shooting after an alleged carjacking in Roxbury as Stephenson King, 39, of Dorchester, after officers said he accelerated a stolen vehicle into a cruiser while trying to flee late Wednesday night.
King’s death has put a fresh spotlight on a fast-moving police shooting that began with a 911 call about a carjacking and ended minutes later on a residential Roxbury street. Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox said officers were responding to a violent takeover of a vehicle on Tremont Street when they tracked the car to Linwood Street. The Suffolk District Attorney’s Office has identified King and said the shooting remains under investigation, while city police leaders have said the officers involved are expected to be OK.
The episode began around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday, when officers were sent to the 1500 block of Tremont Street for a reported carjacking. According to Cox, officers received a description of the vehicle and later found it near Linwood Square, in the area of 10 Linwood St. The suspect was still in the driver’s seat when officers approached on foot and gave repeated verbal commands, Cox said. “At some point, the suspect accelerated his vehicle, striking a Boston police cruiser in an attempt to flee,” the commissioner told reporters hours after the shooting. Officers then fired their weapons. King was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Officials have released only a limited public account of the seconds before the gunfire. Cox said multiple officers discharged their weapons after the vehicle lurched forward and hit the cruiser. Early reports from police and local outlets said two officers were taken to a hospital after the encounter, though authorities said they were not believed to have suffered serious physical injuries. Cox also said the goal of the department is “never to take a life,” while adding that officers were trying to stop a dangerous situation. One question that remained unresolved in the first days after the shooting was whether King was armed. Cox said that issue was still under investigation, and prosecutors had not publicly answered it by the weekend.
The carjacking itself was described by authorities and by the victim in stark terms. Local television interviews with the victim said she had gone to pick up her daughter when a man entered the vehicle, ordered her out and punched her in the mouth before driving off. Authorities said the victim was not in the area when officers found the vehicle in Roxbury, and she was not physically harmed in the police shooting that followed. The route from Tremont Street in Mission Hill to Linwood Square in Roxbury is short, which helps explain how the confrontation moved from an alleged street crime to an armed police response in a matter of minutes. For neighbors, that compressed timeline left little warning before gunfire and emergency vehicles filled the block.
The case now shifts to the procedural steps that follow any fatal police shooting in Suffolk County. The Suffolk District Attorney’s Office said it identified the dead man as King and is overseeing the investigation into the use of force. In Massachusetts, officer-involved shootings are typically reviewed by prosecutors with assistance from investigators, with evidence expected to include body-camera footage if available, radio transmissions, witness interviews, ballistic evidence and vehicle damage. Authorities have not announced whether any video has been recovered or when a fuller investigative summary may be released. They also have not publicly said how many officers fired, how many rounds were discharged, or whether any officer has been placed on administrative leave under department policy.
By the weekend, the physical signs of the confrontation had begun to fade, but the shock around Linwood Square had not. Residents told local reporters they were startled that a violent encounter unfolded so close to homes and neighborhood businesses. One neighbor told television reporters she heard three gunshots. Another resident, Ben Bishop, described the scene as “scary” and “sad,” capturing the uneasy mix of fear and disbelief that often follows sudden police violence in a residential area. Those reactions sat alongside a harder reality for the people most directly affected: a woman who said she was attacked and robbed of her car, officers who found themselves in a split-second confrontation, and a family now facing the death of a 39-year-old man whose final moments remain under official review.
As of Sunday, investigators had identified the man who died and outlined the basic timeline, but key details about the shooting itself remained unanswered. The next milestone is a fuller account from prosecutors or police once the evidence review advances.
Author note: Last updated March 16, 2026.