Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden has ruled that an off-duty Boston police officer was justified when he fatally shot a man who chased two people into a Copley Square Chick-fil-A while carrying a knife last year. The officer, Jose Valenzuela, fired his off-duty handgun inside the restaurant at 569 Boylston Street on March 1, 2025, striking 32-year-old Lemark Jaramillo, who died at the hospital that evening.
According to Hayden's report, as detailed by WCVB, Jaramillo had chased a 17-year-old male into the restaurant in retaliation for a fight moments earlier and ignored commands to drop the knife. Hayden said Jaramillo then attempted to stab the teenager, prompting Valenzuela to open fire. The district attorney called the shooting “a lawful use of force that was necessary” to prevent Jaramillo from killing or seriously wounding the younger male or anyone else, and determined that criminal charges against the officer are not warranted.
Boston police officers responded to a reported shooting at the Chick-fil-A around 5:30 p.m. that day and found a man suffering from a life-threatening gunshot wound, per the same account from WCVB. Jaramillo was pronounced dead at Tufts Medical Center at 5:51 p.m., according to a police report cited by The Boston Globe. The off-duty officer was taken to a hospital to be evaluated for psychological stress following the shooting, the newspaper reported.
Conflicting Reports on the Victim's Name
News outlets have not agreed on the spelling of the victim's first name. WCVB and the Globe's coverage spell it Lemark Jaramillo, while Boston 25 reported it as Lenmark Jaramillo. Hoodline could not independently verify which spelling is official.
The Suffolk District Attorney's Office led the investigation into the shooting, as is standard practice when police use deadly force, with the office expected to determine whether Valenzuela's actions were justified, the Globe reported at the time. That determination has now been made public, more than a year and a half after the shooting occurred.
Officer Later Honored for Bravery
Valenzuela received the Trooper George L. Hanna Medal of Honor, the state's top police bravery award, at a ceremony held last week, on Oct. 14. Burlington Police Officer Aurise Miedico and Holyoke Police Officer Steven Negron also received the medal at the same ceremony, according to State House News Service.
Under Massachusetts law, officers are barred from using deadly force unless de-escalation tactics have been attempted and failed, or are not feasible given the totality of the circumstances, and the force is necessary to prevent imminent harm and proportionate to the threat of that harm, according to the relevant statute published by the Massachusetts Legislature. Hayden's finding that Valenzuela's actions met that standard closes the legal chapter on a shooting that briefly sent customers fleeing a busy Back Bay lunch spot, as reported by WHDH, which covered the district attorney's ruling: WHDH.
