Police exchange gunfire with man in Attleboro early Monday morning

ATTLEBORO, Mass. — Two Attleboro police officers were shot at Monday morning, police officers on scene told Boston 25 News.

Photos from the scene provided to Boston 25 News appeared to show two bullet holes in the windshield of a police cruiser.

According to police, officers responded to a report of a man with a gun at a church, but said he had left by the time they got there.

Police said they found the man, identified as 41-year-old Coventry, Rhode Island native Eric Lindsey, at a McDonald's on Route 1A based on a description provided to them.

Before officers got out of their cruiser, police say Lindsey shot at them. Neither was hit by the bullets.

The officers returned fire, seriously injuring Lindsey.

Attleboro's police chief told us the two officers came very close to losing their lives.

“Out of sheer bravery and heroism, the officers jumped out of their cruisers, the rounds entered the windshields of both cruisers and struck the head rests. Had the officers, in my opinion, not took evasive action so instinctively and quickly, they probably would have [been killed],” Chief Kyle Heagney said.

Dean Harrison, a witness to the shooting, said the incident provided for a chaotic scene.

"I was going to take a left, and all of a sudden, I heard the gunshots," Harrison said. “From what I saw, they basically came under fire right away. It wasn’t standing there, it wasn’t any confrontation at all. I started hearing the gunfire, and one officer was shooting and running backwards."

Harrison said he knew right away that they were gunshots that he was hearing.

"I shot guns before," Harrison said. "I knew it wasn't firecrackers. Obviously they came under fire really quick, it didn’t even look like they were talking to him."

Lindsey was arrested and taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where is is still recovering.

He was charged with two counts of firearm-armed assault to murder, four counts of attempted assault and battery with a firearm, four counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and three counts of possessing a large capacity feeding device.

He was also charged with one count of breaking and entering, unlawful possession of a large capacity firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building, carrying an illegal firearm and carrying a loaded illegal firearm.

Court documents show Lindsey has a history of violence with police in Rhode Island, including two cases in 2018 and one just two weeks before the Attleboro incident.

Lindsey's arraignment date has yet to be set.

Both officers involved are okay, police said.

Cox Media Group