“And then the next thing you know, she’s like ‘John, the police are in the yard with machine guns.’”
Police gather at the scene where carjackers allegedly fled on foot after crashing in Sherborn.WBZ-TV
SHERBORN - The day before Thanksgiving started with a frightening bang here Wednesday, when two carjacking suspects crashed a vehicle on a residential street shortly before 6 a.m. and brandished a gun as they fled on foot, prompting an hours long search that police formally suspended around 10 a.m. with the men still at large.
Sherborn Police Chief Thomas Galvin said in a brief phone interview that the suspects had crashed a white Alfa Romeo around 5:53 a.m. Wednesday in the area of North Main Street and Hunting Lane. The Alfa Romeo, Galvin said, had been reported stolen out of Sudbury earlier in the week.
The chief said witnesses after the crash were allegedly “confronted with a handgun almost” immediately, making it difficult for them to provide a detailed physical description of the suspects. He said the suspects, after exiting the Alfa Romeo, “attempted to carjack” another vehicle before sprinting away on foot.
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Among the North Main Street residents jolted awake by the tumult Wednesday were John and Gorette DeSalvo, who said the crash occurred in front of their next-door neighbor’s house. Eversource workers were repairing a busted telephone pole at the scene as the couple recounted the unsettling events to a reporter.
“I was up and I heard it,” Gorette DeSalvo, 44, said of the commotion. “I heard a truck halt, I heard some yelling, and I actually thought it was the truck that probably hit another car or something.”
She said it was still dark outside at the time.
“Thank God that happened after I let the dog in, because as I understand it, they ran up the driveway and into our backyard,” she said.
Another neighbor, Dan Frommer, 72, lives across the street from the crash site and was awoken by the tremendous din of the impact.
“It thought my house was caving in,” he said. “It was just so loud.”
Frommer said he heard voices after the crash. “I just thought it was another accident, to tell you the truth,” he said, adding that the thought the people he heard were exchanging papers.
“I thought it was them trying to work out … the accident,” he said. “But perhaps it was the guys trying to hijack the target. I don’t know.”
Frommer expressed shock that the suspects managed to escape by running away.
“Isn’t it something the way they can take off on foot in a strange area and evade capture?” he said. “Well, I guess if your life depends on it, you get creative.”
State Police spokesman David Procopio said the search for the suspects was extensive.
“We responded to Sherborn around 6:45 a.m. to help search for two armed carjacking suspects who had fled from the vehicle (an Alfa Romeo) on North Main Street,” Procopio said in a statement. “After an extensive search by patrols, K9s and our Air Wing, the suspects were not located; the investigation is ongoing.”
Procopio said the probe “indicates that the suspects are likely the same suspects who were pursued in a different vehicle by Hopkinton around 4 a.m. this morning. The suspects crashed in that vehicle and fled on foot.”
John DeSalvo, 43, said he was sleeping when his wife told him what happened.
“She’s like ‘look, there’s an accident, look, there’s an accident. I’m like, ‘oh, gosh, that looks terrible’ But I’m sleeping,” he said. “And then the next thing you know, she’s like ‘John, the police are in the yard with machine guns.’”
The DeSalvos said they’ve never seen anything like the crash and subsequent foot pursuit in their quiet neighborhood before. Initially, the couple said, they didn’t know why the police were searching around their property.
“They were looking under the car with the K-9 and we were like, ‘Oh, what are they looking for?’,” John DeSalvo said. “At first we didn’t understand why there was a dog in our yard looking under cars.”
He said he later spoke to his next door neighbor who witnessed some of the immediate aftermath of the crash.
“He said he saw two guys,” John DeSalvo continued. “They got out of the car ... and then they were trying to get into a truck. I don’t know whether he saw firearms or whatnot.”
As a precaution Wednesday, the Pine Hill Elementary School in Sherborn canceled classes for the day, Chief Galvin said.
Galvin told the Globe around 10:15 a.m. that the search had been suspended, though State Police resources were still in town to provide assistance.
The chief said during a follow-up interview at headquarters in the afternoon that several car break-ins had occurred in the area overnight. Based on evidence recovered from the damaged vehicle Wednesday, Galvin said, investigators believe the carjacking suspects were involved in those predawn crimes.
“We’re confident they have left the area,” Galvin said.
Natick police in the morning said the chaotic episode had affected that community, too.
“As a result of an incident in Sherborn early this morning, we have coordinated with the Natick Public Schools to have the students and staff shelter in place at Natick High School and Memorial Elementary school,” Natick police said via Facebook.
The pursuit, Natick police said, involves suspects who allegedly “stole a motor vehicle in a neighboring community and crashed it in Sherborn, near the Natick town line. Reports indicate that the suspects fled on foot and may be armed. We will update as soon as information becomes available.”
Police confirmed later Wednesday morning that the shelter-in-place order at the Natick schools had been lifted.
“Thank you for your diligence in keeping our children safe,” one person wrote on the NPD Facebook page.
Travis Andersen can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe. Emily Sweeney can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @emilysweeney.
‘The police are in the yard with machine guns.’ Authorities search for armed carjacking suspects in Sherborn after crash - The Boston Globe
Two carjacking suspects crashed a vehicle in Sherborn on Wednesday and brandished a gun as they fled on foot, prompting an hours-long search, officials said.
www.bostonglobe.com
‘The police are in the yard with machine guns.’ Authorities search for armed carjacking suspects in Sherborn after crash
By Travis Andersen and Emily Sweeney Globe Staff,Updated November 24, 2021, 1 hour agoSHERBORN - The day before Thanksgiving started with a frightening bang here Wednesday, when two carjacking suspects crashed a vehicle on a residential street shortly before 6 a.m. and brandished a gun as they fled on foot, prompting an hours long search that police formally suspended around 10 a.m. with the men still at large.
Sherborn Police Chief Thomas Galvin said in a brief phone interview that the suspects had crashed a white Alfa Romeo around 5:53 a.m. Wednesday in the area of North Main Street and Hunting Lane. The Alfa Romeo, Galvin said, had been reported stolen out of Sudbury earlier in the week.
The chief said witnesses after the crash were allegedly “confronted with a handgun almost” immediately, making it difficult for them to provide a detailed physical description of the suspects. He said the suspects, after exiting the Alfa Romeo, “attempted to carjack” another vehicle before sprinting away on foot.
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Among the North Main Street residents jolted awake by the tumult Wednesday were John and Gorette DeSalvo, who said the crash occurred in front of their next-door neighbor’s house. Eversource workers were repairing a busted telephone pole at the scene as the couple recounted the unsettling events to a reporter.
“I was up and I heard it,” Gorette DeSalvo, 44, said of the commotion. “I heard a truck halt, I heard some yelling, and I actually thought it was the truck that probably hit another car or something.”
She said it was still dark outside at the time.
“Thank God that happened after I let the dog in, because as I understand it, they ran up the driveway and into our backyard,” she said.
Another neighbor, Dan Frommer, 72, lives across the street from the crash site and was awoken by the tremendous din of the impact.
“It thought my house was caving in,” he said. “It was just so loud.”
Frommer said he heard voices after the crash. “I just thought it was another accident, to tell you the truth,” he said, adding that the thought the people he heard were exchanging papers.
“I thought it was them trying to work out … the accident,” he said. “But perhaps it was the guys trying to hijack the target. I don’t know.”
Frommer expressed shock that the suspects managed to escape by running away.
“Isn’t it something the way they can take off on foot in a strange area and evade capture?” he said. “Well, I guess if your life depends on it, you get creative.”
State Police spokesman David Procopio said the search for the suspects was extensive.
“We responded to Sherborn around 6:45 a.m. to help search for two armed carjacking suspects who had fled from the vehicle (an Alfa Romeo) on North Main Street,” Procopio said in a statement. “After an extensive search by patrols, K9s and our Air Wing, the suspects were not located; the investigation is ongoing.”
Procopio said the probe “indicates that the suspects are likely the same suspects who were pursued in a different vehicle by Hopkinton around 4 a.m. this morning. The suspects crashed in that vehicle and fled on foot.”
John DeSalvo, 43, said he was sleeping when his wife told him what happened.
“She’s like ‘look, there’s an accident, look, there’s an accident. I’m like, ‘oh, gosh, that looks terrible’ But I’m sleeping,” he said. “And then the next thing you know, she’s like ‘John, the police are in the yard with machine guns.’”
The DeSalvos said they’ve never seen anything like the crash and subsequent foot pursuit in their quiet neighborhood before. Initially, the couple said, they didn’t know why the police were searching around their property.
“They were looking under the car with the K-9 and we were like, ‘Oh, what are they looking for?’,” John DeSalvo said. “At first we didn’t understand why there was a dog in our yard looking under cars.”
He said he later spoke to his next door neighbor who witnessed some of the immediate aftermath of the crash.
“He said he saw two guys,” John DeSalvo continued. “They got out of the car ... and then they were trying to get into a truck. I don’t know whether he saw firearms or whatnot.”
As a precaution Wednesday, the Pine Hill Elementary School in Sherborn canceled classes for the day, Chief Galvin said.
Galvin told the Globe around 10:15 a.m. that the search had been suspended, though State Police resources were still in town to provide assistance.
The chief said during a follow-up interview at headquarters in the afternoon that several car break-ins had occurred in the area overnight. Based on evidence recovered from the damaged vehicle Wednesday, Galvin said, investigators believe the carjacking suspects were involved in those predawn crimes.
“We’re confident they have left the area,” Galvin said.
Natick police in the morning said the chaotic episode had affected that community, too.
“As a result of an incident in Sherborn early this morning, we have coordinated with the Natick Public Schools to have the students and staff shelter in place at Natick High School and Memorial Elementary school,” Natick police said via Facebook.
The pursuit, Natick police said, involves suspects who allegedly “stole a motor vehicle in a neighboring community and crashed it in Sherborn, near the Natick town line. Reports indicate that the suspects fled on foot and may be armed. We will update as soon as information becomes available.”
Police confirmed later Wednesday morning that the shelter-in-place order at the Natick schools had been lifted.
“Thank you for your diligence in keeping our children safe,” one person wrote on the NPD Facebook page.
Travis Andersen can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe. Emily Sweeney can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @emilysweeney.
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