Man sentenced to prison after breaking into church, firing at multiple Attleboro police officers

A 45-year-old Coventry, RI man was sentenced Monday to 12 to 15 years in prison for shooting at police after breaking into a church building during rush hour on Newport Avenue in Attleboro nearly four years ago, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.

Eric Lindsey pleaded guilty in New Bedford Superior Court Monday afternoon to indictments charging him with armed assault with intent to murder, breaking and entering during the daytime, possession of a high-capacity firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition and two counts of carrying an illegal firearm.

On August 27, 2018, the Attleboro Police Department received a phone call from a pastor at the Assembly of God Church at 1052 Newport Avenue regarding an incident that had just occurred at his church. The pastor told the police that he had arrived at his church at approximately 6:30 a.m. to retrieve a computer cable which he had left in his office. As he walked through his church, the pastor was surprised to see a man, later identified as Lindsey, sitting in the foyer holding a firearm. After a brief conversation with the pastor, the defendant left the church with the gun and two backpacks. The pastor contacted police.

In response to the pastor’s phone call, the Attleboro Police Department dispatched several police officers in an attempt to locate Lindsey. The first two responding officers encountered the suspect on Newport Avenue and slowly drove past him. Due to the large volume of civilian cars on the streets because of the morning rush hour and the proximity of several restaurants and businesses in the area, both officers attempted a “U turn” of their cruisers to position themselves as they attempted to confront the suspect.

The first officer positioned his cruiser in between Lindsey and the second officer’s cruiser, removed his seatbelt, drew his service weapon to his lap and cracked his cruiser’s door. He then got onto the cruiser PA system and told the suspect to stop and drop his backpack. As he did, the second officer observed that Lindsey had switched one of the backpacks from his right hand to his left hand. When the first officer told the suspect to stop and drop the backpack, Lindsey appeared to comply by stopping and dropping the backpack. Then, he turned towards the first officer, extended his hands, and began to fire a semi-automatic handgun directly at the officer. The first officer described bullets penetrating the driver’s side windshield and being hit in the face with broken glass. As the first officer dropped out of the driver’s side door, the suspect continued to fire at him with bullets penetrating the driver’s side headrest and seat where the officer had been sitting seconds before. As the first officer dropped from the cruiser, the cruiser remained in drive and began to slowly roll towards Lindsey who was continuing to fire his handgun at the first officer.

The first officer then aimed his service weapon at the suspect and they both began to fire at each other. The first officer believed that at least one of his shots hit the suspect, but Lindsey continued to fire his gun at him. As the suspect and the first officer continued to fire at each other, his police cruiser was still in drive and was rolling faster towards the suspect. That left the officer without cover as he was now only approximately fifteen to twenty feet from Lindsey. The first officer sprinted from behind his cruiser towards the second officer’s cruiser for cover. As he ran, the suspect continued to fire, aiming shots directly at him. The officer described that he could see the suspect firing at him, and that Lindsey was taking a second to pause between shots to deliberately aim at him.

The second officer also described the incident from his point of view. This officer stated that as he and the first officer passed the suspect on Newport Avenue that he locked eyes with him. Based on the nature of the call, the second had released his M-4 service rifle from the locked holder in his cruiser as he drove to the call. As he and the first officer attempted their “U turns”, he heard the first officer use his cruiser’s PA system to tell the suspect to stop and drop his bags. The second officer said that in response, Lindsey turned and began to fire a handgun at the first officer. The second officer had his service rifle ready but could not fire due to the first officer being in the line of sight.

Once the first officer was clear, the second officer fired several rounds from his service rifle at the suspect. Lindsey eventually fell to the ground and the firearm fell from his hand. At the time, the two officers could not determine if either had been shot. They checked each other out and determined that neither was shot, but that the first officer had a laceration on his leg. Once other back up officers arrived, the two officers approached the suspect and noticed the suspect had serious injuries. Lindsey repeatedly yelled for the officers to let him die. The two officers applied tourniquets to the suspect’s legs and offered other lifesaving medical assistance. Lindsey’s femoral artery had been severed by one of the gunshots. One of the tourniquets applied to his leg stopped the bleeding and saved the suspect’s life. When the scene was secure, an ambulance arrived and took Lindsey to Rhode Island Hospital. The two officers were also taken to the hospital for evaluation.

Prior to being taken to the hospital, Lindsey was pat searched for weapons. The police found a knife in his shorts pocket which they removed. Directly in front of where the defendant had fallen, the police secured a .40 caliber Ruger semi-automatic handgun. The weapon was in the locked position and empty of ammunition. The magazine in the firearm was capable of holding fifteen rounds of ammunition making it a high-capacity firearm under Massachusetts law. Numerous discharged .40 caliber shell casings were also recovered from the area. When the police searched the two backpacks Lindsey had been carrying, they discovered a 9 mm semi-automatic Smith and Wesson handgun. This firearm was also a high-capacity firearm as it was loaded with fourteen bullets in the magazine. In addition to the firearm, the police also recovered four AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle magazines. One of the AR-15 magazines was loaded with twenty-five rounds of 5.56mm ammunition and another was loaded with fourteen rounds of 5.56mm ammunition. Two AR-15 high-capacity magazines were empty. The police also discovered a .40 caliber Ruger semi-automatic magazine loaded with eight bullets, three boxes of .223 target ammunition with fifty-one bullets, a black case containing thirty-one 9mm Luger bullets and numerous other loose rounds of ammunition of .40 and 9mm calibers.

During Monday’s court hearing, Assistant District Attorney Jason Mohan argued that Lindsey should serve a 15-to-20-year prison sentence. The defendant, through his attorney, requested a 10-to-15-year prison term. Judge Raffi Yessayan sentenced Lindsey to serve 12 to 15 years in state prison, to be followed by five years of probation. The probation term will include GPS monitoring and mandatory mental health treatment.

“This defendant tried to kill two police officers after being caught breaking into a church building. The police put their lives on the line everyday responding to situations that can quickly turn violent and deadly, “District Attorney Quinn said. “This defendant clearly had no regard for their lives and needs to be kept off the streets for a long time. The officers should be commended for quickly saving the defendant’s life, even after being fired upon by him.”