BOSTON (AP) — Family and friends are mourning the two bystanders killed Saturday afternoon by a white gunman in a Boston suburb in an attack officials are treating as a hate crime.
David Green, a 68-year-old retired Massachusetts State Police trooper, and Ramona Cooper, a 60-year-old Air Force veteran, were each shot multiple times by 28-year-old Nathan Allen after he crashed a stolen box truck into a residential building in Winthrop, an overwhelmingly white, coastal community located on a peninsula jutting into Boston Harbor, just north of Logan International Airport.
Allen, who prosecutors say drew swastikas and handwrote messages about whites being superior and “apex predators,” was fatally shot by police moments later. Both victims were African American.
Green’s longtime friend, Nick Tsiotos, said the two had coffee together just hours before the attack. He said the retired trooper had been sitting outside his home and tried to help after hearing the crash.
According to Rollins, Cooper was shot three times in the back and Green was shot four times in the head and three times in his torso.
“He went out and tried to do what he was doing for 36 years with the state police: trying to help save lives,” Tsiotos, who attended high school with Green, told WCVB-TV. “Dave probably stopped him from going into homes and killing people.”
Green retired from the state police in 2016 after nearly 40 years in law enforcement and also served in the Air Force.
“Trooper Green was widely respected and well-liked by his fellow Troopers, several of whom yesterday described him as a ‘true gentleman’ and always courteous to the public and meticulous in his duties,” Massachusetts State Police Col. Christopher Mason said in a statement over the weekend.
Cooper’s son, Gary Cooper Jr., remembered his mother as “caring and selfless” and always ready to help anyone in need.
“We are heartbroken and she will be missed, just a senseless thing to have happened,” he said in a statement to WCVB-TV.
Cooper most recently worked with the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs and is survived by her son, two grandchildren, and her twin sister, WBZ-TV reports.
A memorial of flower bouquets and other remembrances quickly grew on the temporary fencing around the destroyed building over the weekend.
“Praying you are dancing in the sunshine and singing with the angels,” one note on the makeshift shrine read, The Boston Globe reported.
A candlelight vigil will be held Thursday night in front of Town Hall to the victims. Town officials also said Monday they’ll offer trauma services and other community resources.
“We take actions that are rooted in hate very seriously,” Town Council President Philip Boncore said in a statement. “We strive for unity within the community and will continue to work with our town partners to ensure Winthrop is an accepting and inclusive place for everyone.”
Gov. Charlie Baker was among the state leaders who offered condolences.
“The Green and Cooper families lost loved ones to a despicable act and we lost two cherished public servants who proved their mettle time and time again,” he tweeted Monday. “Awful, dreadful story. Rest in peace Trooper Green and USAF Veteran Cooper.”
Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said Sunday that authorities are investigating whether Allen targeted the victims because they were Black.
She said officials found “troubling white supremacist rhetoric” in the gunman’s handwriting that included “anti-Semitic and racist statements against Black individuals.” She also noted that Allen walked by several other people that were not Black and didn’t harm them.
Rollins said Cooper was shot about a half-block away from the crash; Green was shot in an alleyway further down the street.
Allen, who owned a condo in town, was also legally licensed to carry a firearm, had a doctorate, was married, and employed, added Rollins. “To all external sources he likely appeared unassuming,” she said.
Indeed Nathan Allen’s Facebook page is filled with pictures of him with his wife, Audrey, as well as posts about adopting rabbits, as the couple had a pet rabbit of their own.
The two met at the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth, where they graduated in 2014.
Their engagement was profiled by the Globe and they were married at the nursing home where the former Audrey Mazzola’s grandfather lived, with some 200 people tuning in via Zoom.
Audrey Allen didn’t respond to a phone call and email seeking comment Monday.
Nathan Allen’s final post on Facebook appeared on June 22, when he wished his wife a happy birthday. He posted two pictures of the couple, including one of them kissing on their wedding day.
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This story has been corrected to show that the name of one of the victims is Ramona Cooper, not Romana.