Police cleared in killing of Iraq veteran with PTSD

Lynn police cleared in fatal shooting of Iraq veteran
Victim had taken gun from officer
Boston Globe
By John R. Ellement
GLOBE STAFF
JANUARY 28, 2014

JESSICA RINALDI FOR THE GLOBE/FILE
Denis Reynoso had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Lynn police Officer Joshua Hilton was justified in using deadly force against an Iraq war veteran who had managed to grab hold of another officer’s gun and fire two shots at police during a desperate struggle, Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett concluded Tuesday.

Hilton acted to protect himself and others from Denis Reynoso, 29, who had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and was behaving irrationally, Blodgett said in a statement and report on an investigation into the Sept. 5 incident.

“When Mr. Reynoso gained control of an officer’s gun and fired two rounds in close proximity to two police officers despite their attempts to get the gun away from him, he put their lives in imminent danger, thus justifying the use of lethal force by a third officer,’’ Blodgett said in a statement.

Reynoso continued to laugh and scream even after he was shot once in the left flank, the report said. He died at Lynn Union Hospital about five hours after the incident began. According to the report, Reynoso’s 5-year-old son was in the living room during the fatal confrontation.
read more here