Carjacking suspect shot and killed by police in Newbury

NEWBURY, Mass. — Police officers shot and killed a man connected to carjackings in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, authorities said.

At a Sunday night press conference, Massachusetts officials said the 31-year-old man shot was believed to have been the same suspect from a carjacking in Lowell and a subsequent carjacking from a dealership in Nashua, New Hampshire, during which an employee was stabbed.

A spokesperson for the Essex County district attorney’s office identified the man as Thomas Murray of Dracut.

Police in Lowell said the man told a woman in a red Subaru to get out of the car, and wrested the victim's purse away during a struggle, before taking off in the car around 3 p.m. Sunday. Less than two hours later, police were notified that the car had been tracked to Nashua, but responding officers couldn't find it.

Around an hour later, police received word of a carjacking at a BMW dealership in Nashua. Authorities said the car was stolen at knifepoint and the description of the suspect matched the description of the Lowell carjacker. Nashua police later found the Subaru stolen from Lowell at the dealership lot.

Officials release name of carjacking suspect shot and killed by police Investigators believe 31-year-old Thomas Murray, of Dracut, is connected to at least four other carjackings or car thefts, including the carjacking of an elderly woman in Lowell.

A Massachusetts State Police trooper found a BMW matching the description of the one stolen at a gas station in the village of Byfield in Newbury around 7 p.m., state police said in a statement.

Responding officers boxed in the man's car and approached him, at which point he rammed a state police cruiser and Newbury police cruiser, district attorney Jon Blodgett said. In response, police shot him. It's unclear how many officers fired their weapons, Blodgett said.

Authorities rendered aid and took the man to a hospital, where he later died. No officers were injured.

A knife was found in the BMW, Blodgett said. The Nashua dealership employee was released from the hospital with minor injuries, a spokeswoman for Blodgett's office, Carrie Kimball Monahan, told news outlets.

Monahan said the suspect might also be connected to two vehicle thefts — in Boston and North Andover — on Saturday.

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