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Family Of Retired 'T' Worker Killed In Raid Wants Answers

FRAMINGHAM (CBS) - The family of a 68-year-old Framingham grandfather killed early Wednesday by a bullet from a SWAT officer's gun said they want to know exactly how it happened and are considering legal action.

"The way this thing went about is killing everyone in my family," said Marlon Stamps, the dead man's son.

As a cleanup crew from Aftermath, Inc. worked at the scene, daily life flowed past the Fountain Street apartment where Eurie Stamps, a retired T employee, lost his when the Framingham Police SWAT team executed a search warrant of which Stamps was not the target.

His family says police threw a flash grenade through a front first-floor window that landed near his bedroom door and startled him before he was killed with a police bullet through his neck. "I even saw my father's bloody fingerprints on the kitchen table, which means after they shot him. He must have tried to drag himself or walk himself out the door," said Marlon Stamps.

WBZ-TV's Ron Sanders reports.

Police still said little Thursday about what happened except that after they arrested Stamps' stepson, who lived in the apartment, and another relative on drug charges, they executed the search warrant at 12:30 a.m. Wednesday and Stamps was killed by a bullet "discharged from a SWAT officer's rifle. Despite immediate intervention by tactical medics, he died at the scene," their statement said.

Boston University Criminal Justice professor and 27-year veteran Boston Police officer Thomas Nolan, who worked on a SWAT team, said the explanation comes up short.

"Preliminarily, the public can be told if in fact this was a tragic accident and how it might have occurred or did the officer discharge his weapon intentionally and if so, what was the basis for that?" said Nolan, who also questioned whether forced entry by the SWAT team was necessary if, according to some accounts, the target of the search warrant, Stamps' stepson Joseph Bushfan, had been arrested outside the apartment.

Framingham Police said in a statement late Thursday: "Our condolences are with Mr. Stamps' family for the heartbreak they are understandably enduring and we will await the findings of the investigation before taking any additional administrative action."

"If you made a mistake, just mention that you made a mistake. Just tell us something. Let us know something. Give us some sort of information so that we know why he's dead," said Marlon Stamps.

A spokeswoman for the Middlesex County District Attorney's office declined to answer questions about the deadly shooting such as, was it accidental or provoked, saying only, "we need to conduct a comprehensive and thorough investigation."

Framingham Police are not publically identifying the SWAT officer involved in the fatal shooting. They said late Thursday he joined their department in 2005 and has been on the SWAT team "a couple of years."

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