Paul Coderre, the former acting fire chief of New Bedford, was shot and killed after firing at police officers outside a local bar. The incident occurred Friday evening when authorities were alerted to an intoxicated individual at the Bayside Lounge on Sconticut Neck Road. Coderre, 55, of Dartmouth, was involved in an altercation at the venue before attempting to access his vehicle outside.
An officer from the Acushnet Police Department was wounded in the shooting. He sustained a gunshot wound to the leg but has since been treated and released from the hospital, as confirmed by Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn. In a struggle to control the situation, officers tried to subdue Coderre with non-lethal force. "He had a weapon, fired it, they went out of their way to try to subdue him without using deadly force and unfortunately as a result of him firing his gun, they returned fire and he died," Quinn said in a statement obtained by NBC Boston.
The situation escalated when Coderre brandished a firearm, prompting officers to attempt deescalating the confrontation, which included the use of a Taser, as detailed by DA Quinn CBS News Boston. Coderre fired at police, which led to officers returning fire, resulting in his death.
New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell expressed his condolences, calling the event "tragic in every sense." He further conveyed relief "that the officer who was injured will make a full recovery, and that no one else was seriously hurt," as he posted on social media. The circumstances surrounding the ordeal highlighted the tumultuous past of Coderre, who was dismissed as New Bedford's acting fire chief in January 2022 over allegations of dishonesty related to work injuries, but his firing was later overturned by the state’s Civil Service Commission, according to a statement from the commission reported by the Boston Globe.
