Man with knife in Lexington, Massachusetts shot and killed by Wilmington police officer, DA says

A man armed with a knife was shot and killed by a police officer outside a home in Lexington, Massachusetts Saturday afternoon, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan.

Ryan said Lexington Police got a 911 call from a man at a home on Mason Street around 1:40 p.m. He told them his 26-year-old son had hurt himself with a knife. The son was still in the house and the father asked officers for help.

As Lexington Police arrived, they were followed by officers from the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council (NEMLEC) a consortium of 68 police departments in Middlesex and Essex counties. Those officers were in Lexington at the time for some Patriots' Day events.

Police escorted two people out of the house, leaving the son alone inside. As officers set up outside, Ryan said the man ran out of the house with a large kitchen knife and "advanced on the officers."

"Two attempts were made to use less lethal force. They were not effective. The man continued to advance and was fatally shot by a Wilmington police officer assigned to NEMLEC," Ryan told reporters at a news conference Saturday night.

The man, who has not been identified yet, died at the scene. The Wilmington officer was taken to a nearby hospital "as a precaution," Ryan said. She added that the home was "known to police."

"We are in the very early stages of this investigation," the district attorney said. "The family has asked me to convey that they might be allowed to grieve in private over the next few days."

"Extremely surprising," David Holzman said of all the police activity on the street Saturday afternoon. He's lived in the neighborhood for about 35 years.

"I've never seen anything like this in this neighborhood," he told reporters. "It's just bizarre."

No other information is available at this point in the investigation.

Lexington, Massachusetts is about 20 miles northwest of Boston.