BOSTON, Mass. — An off-duty Boston police officer will not face criminal charges for shooting and killing a man who was trying to stab a teenager inside a Boylston Street fast-food restaurant in Boston last year, District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced Wednesday.
Hayden, the Suffolk district attorney, ruled that Officer Jose Valenzuela of the Boston Police Department acted lawfully on March 1, 2025, when he shot Lemark Jaramillo, 32, inside the Chick-fil-A on Boylston Street. Hayden concluded the force was needed to keep Jaramillo from killing or badly hurting the 17-year-old or someone else in the restaurant.
According to the findings, the trouble started at a nearby Chipotle, where Jaramillo fought with a teenager who had knocked on a restroom door. Jaramillo then pulled a folding knife, and the teen and his friends ran up Boylston Street into the Chick-fil-A, where Valenzuela, in street clothes, was picking up an order.
Valenzuela identified himself as police and repeatedly ordered Jaramillo to drop the knife. The teen was boxed in by customers, some of them children, pressed against a wall. Valenzuela fired three times as Jaramillo raised the blade, hitting him in the chest and shoulder. The officer then called 911 for paramedics and, with help from a civilian, gave first aid until they arrived. Jaramillo died later at a hospital.
The review drew on surveillance and body camera video and interviews with at least 55 witnesses. Hayden also noted the officer received a spoken reprimand from the department because he had not finished a required safety course for carrying a personal weapon off duty.
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Filed under: Boston MA Crime News
