DA: Guy in Brigham and Women's incident threatened guards, cops with a replica gun; valet was hit by a police bullet

Juston Root threatened several Brigham and Women's security guards with a realistic-looking replica gun before chasing after a Boston Police officer with it on the morning of Feb. 7, Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said today. The officer, in fear for his life, opened fire on Root, as did another arriving officer.

Root was hit - before he jumped into his Chevy Volt and sped away - and so was a valet a half block away at the main hospital entrance, Rollins said at a press conference on the incident. Root sped onto Rte. 9 and into Brookline, where he crashed into several cars near the Chestnut Hill Star Market and then, after he again pulled the replica gun, was shot dead by responding Boston officers and state troopers.

Rollins provided a timeline of the events of that morning in Boston - after saying she and other officials had first met with the injured valet and Root's family to reveal it.

She said that at 9:19 a.m., Brigham and Women's operation divison called 911 to report a person with a gun outside the rear of a hospital building at 60 Fenwood Rd., that Root had "displayed a weapon in his waistband and threatened" a hospital security guard.

BPD dispatched several patrol cars to Fenwood Road at 9:21. One minute later, she said, he pulled the weapon and began chasing two other hospital security guards coming toward him on Vining Street, a short street that goes from Fenwood to the hospital's main entrance on Francis Street. As BPD officers in cruisers began arriving up Fenwood, she said, Root stopped chasing them and began waving the officers up Vining towards the hospital.

But one officer, who was on foot, saw Root and ordered him to drop his gun. Root "began to pull trigger on that weapon." The officer, in fear for his life, retreated, then fired several shots at Root, she said. A second officer also fired several shots.

Root, apparently injured, jumped into his Volt - which was parked in the middle of Fenwood, and drove away, while the valet, on Francis Street was now hit by one of the police bullets - emergency-room doctors and nurses rushed out to tend to him.

At 9:26 a.m., Root drove under the Riverway on Rte. 9 and entered Brookline, not long before he was fatally shot further down the road. Police recovered the firearm, which they determined was "not a working firearm," Rollins said.

Rollins said the investigation, which involves three police departments and two district attorney's offices, will likely take several more months.