Police: Man in gun battle with officers fired first

Police tonight identified the man shot to death in a firefight with police on Dorchester Avenue today as Roudy Hendricks, 20, of Brockton.

At a press conference, Police Commissioner Ed Davis said Hendricks had a lengthy and violent record. In 2010, at aged 17, Hendricks was arrested with another teen on a variety of gun charges, including possession of a large capacity-feeding device. The Globe, however, reports he was found not guilty on the charge earlier this year.

Davis said two veteran officers, Harry Jean and Terry Cotton, both with 24 years of service, were recovering tonight. Cotton was shot twice in the leg while Jean had a bullet graze his leg.

Both officers were in plainclothes and doing surveillance for a drug investigation when they noticed two men on Dorchester Avenue at Shepton doing something suspicious around 1:45 p.m., Davis said. The officers got out of their car, identified themselves as police officers and then:

The two individuals reached into their clothing. At least one individual pulled out a gun and fired at the officers. The officers returned fire. Both police officers were hit.

Davis did not say what the men were doing that was suspicious, but said they were not targets of the drug investigation. However, a source says the two men were actually shooting at each other when Cotton and Jean pulled up - and that the stopped shooting at each other and began aiming at the officers.

Police are continuing to search for a second suspect, described as black, thin, with braided hair and wearing a maroon shirt with stripes.

Davis added that a house searched at 18 Lonsdale St. turned out to be unrelated to the gunfight. He could not confirm a report that there was also a gunman in an SUV spotted shortly before the shootings.

Davis said this is the second time in about a week that Boston Police officers have been violently attacked.

DA Dan Conley said his office will conduct a review of the incident, due to the use of fatal force.