'He was a good guy': Shocked neighbors describe man fatally shot by Raynham police
RAYNHAM — When asked what kind of neighbor Stephen Maclean was, residents of the King Philip Street Apartments building where Maclean was shot and killed by Raynham police describe him as generous and kind.
Maclean was fatally wounded by two 12-year veterans of the Raynham Police Department on Tuesday after he pulled a gun on the officers, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn said.
The place where the shooting occurred is a small, eight-unit building within the larger King Philip Street Apartments complex. Maclean and his girlfriend, who live in separate but adjacent units, occupy two of the four upstairs units, according to a neighbor.
What happened? DA releases body camera footage from fatal police shooting in Raynham
“He was a good guy, a nice guy,” said Maclean’s downstairs neighbor, Jerome Thompson. “A few months ago, we were talking in the hallway, and he said, 'If you ever need anything you can always come see me.'"
Thompson wasn’t the only neighbor who was shocked by Tuesday’s incident.
“He was always nice to us. He was good with [my daughter]. Sometimes, I’d put trash outside, and he would take it out,” said Maclean's upstairs neighbor, Nabila Waseen.
What happened, according to witnesses
Police officers were at Maclean's home multiple times between Monday and Tuesday for reports of belligerent behavior, Quinn said. Maclean's girlfriend told police that he went to work on Tuesday morning and was fired because he showed up intoxicated.
Waseen, who lives directly across from Maclean’s girlfriend, said she heard commotion between the couple earlier in the day.
“He was knocking very loudly on the door of his girlfriend. I came out but he said everything was OK,” she said.
Police were called back to the apartment again Tuesday afternoon.
In newly released police body camera footage, four officers can be seen standing inside the hallway outside of Maclean’s apartment door. As the door opens, Maclean can be seen pulling what appears to be a black handgun from behind his back and pointing it directly at one of the officers.
“He opened the door and pointed a gun at the officers," Quinn said. "Two of the officers fired their weapons, resulting in the defendant being hit, going to the ground."
Maclean’s downstairs neighbor, Thompson, was home when the shooting occurred.
“You could hear the sound, the ‘Bang, bang, bang, bang.’ I thought, ‘Is this really happening?’” he said.
Shortly after, Thompson said the police knocked on everyone’s doors, told them to pack some belongings and to go out the apartment's back door.
Both Thompson and Waseen said they weren’t able to see anything in the hallway as they were ushered to the back door of the building.
When neighbors were finally allowed back in the building later that evening, Waseen said it felt wrong.
“It was very scary and emotional,” she said. “Yesterday I couldn’t sleep the whole night. The feeling in the building is not good. We are all a little scared.”
"It is very sad," Thompson said. "Every time you saw him, he would make a joke or laugh. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would do something like this."
This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Raynham police shooting: Neighbors describe victim who pulled gun
