Officer cleared in fatal shooting

SALEM – Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett concluded a Lynn Police officer was justified in using lethal force in the Sept. 5 shooting of Denis Reynoso, an Iraq War veteran who grabbed hold of another officer’s gun and shot at police during a struggle.”When Mr. Reynoso gained control of an officer’s gun and fired two rounds in close proximity to two police officers despite their attempts to get the gun away from him, he put their lives in imminent danger, thus justifying the use of lethal force by a third officer,” Blodgett said in a press release accompanying a report on the investigation.Police responded to a report of a disturbance at approximately 11:10 a.m. Sept. 5 on O’Callaghan Way and encountered Reynoso, 29, inside his Newcastle Street home.Police said a physical struggle ensued where Reynoso grabbed an officer’s weapon. Police said shots were fired during the struggle, and Reynoso was shot and wounded.Reynoso died later that afternoon at Lynn Union Hospital.Reynoso’s widow, Jessica Spinney, and friends and family members have disputed the police account and repeatedly questioned why police entered the home without a warrant and whether deadly force was necessary.They have organized protests and started a petition demanding “an independent investigation into the murder of Iraq War veteran Denis Reynoso, in his home, by the Lynn Police.”Blodgett’s five-page report largely corroborates the police account but reveals new details of the incident.Notable findings in the report include:At least eight individuals described Reynoso as acting strangely prior to the shooting.Reynoso opened the door to his home to two officers who followed him inside although Reynoso said he did not want help.Three shots were fired inside the home. Reynoso fired two shots while he and two officers struggled for one of the officer’s guns. The third officer fired a single fatal shot.The State Police armorer found one of two tension screws was missing on the holster of the gun over which Reynoso and officers struggled, indicating the gun could have been easily removed.No gunshot residue was found on Reynoso’s hands. DNA of at least three individuals was found on the gun over which Reynoso and officers struggled. “Reynoso cannot be excluded as a possible contributor to this mixture.”The Veterans’ Administration diagnosed Reynoso with post-traumatic stress disorder in June 2012. He was prescribed medication but withdrew from treatment after being diagnosed.Police found a bag of marijuana inside the home, and Reynoso tested positive for THC in a toxicology screen.Lynn Police officers John Bernard, Joshua Hilton and Paul Scali responded to 115 O’Callaghan Way, in the Kings Lynne apartment complex, after a caller reported a Hispanic male walking around the outside of a building, “screaming and acting irrationally,” according to Blodgett’s report.Two property managers described the man, later identified as Reynoso, as acting “bizarro,” prompting them to lock their office door in fear. Another worker said Reynoso was yelling “(expletive) kill people!” A visiting nurse told investigators Reynoso chased her car as she was driving away from a patient’s home.A postal worker said Reynoso – whom the postal worker knew suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder – went inside 46 Newcastle St. after acting so irrationally that the postal worker was ready to use his mace.”Officers Bernard and Scali knocked on the door and announced, ?Lynn Police,'” the report states. “The door swung open and a man fitting the description, now identified as Reynoso, said, ?What do you (expletive) want? You know who I am (expletive).”Bernard asked Reynoso if everything was OK, concerned for the well-being of anyone else who may have been in the house, according to the report.”Reynoso responded that he ?didn’t need his (expletive) help,'” the report states. “Bernard observed that Reynoso was acting irrationally, and was talking to himself, yelling and swearing.”Bernard and Sc