Immigrant Charged With Slitting Two Boston Doctors’ Throats
Eric Lieberman
Tech and Law Reporter
A 30-year-old man originally from Africa is being charged with the murder of two Boston doctors who were discovered dead with their throats slit in their penthouse apartment Friday night, according to multiple reports.
While responding to a call that an armed man was in an upscale Boston apartment building, police arrived at the scene to find Bampumim Teixeira. Two police officers opened fire at Teixeira because they believe he “either pointed or fired a weapon at them,” according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors allegedly said he did not shoot at the police, despite original reports. He was arraigned Monday while still in his hospital bed. Boston police say no officers were struck by bullets during the violent exchange.
“The individual had just killed two people, Boston Police Commissioner William Evans told reporters Saturday, according to the Boston Globe. “He had nothing to lose.”
After law enforcement arrested Teixeira, a SWAT team surveyed the apartment to ensure that no other shooters were present. The authorities found no accomplices, but did discovery the bodies of Field, 49, and his fiancee Lina Bolanos, 38, dead with their hands bound and throats slashed, according to the Boston Globe. The walls were allegedly smeared with blood and featured a vindictive message (although it is not clear if the note itself was written in blood).
Because the apartment building has very strict security, including a key fob needed to get into the building or use the elevators, police believe Field and Bolanos knew the suspect.
“If someone would come here and go up to the 11th floor of a penthouse, we gotta believe there was some type of knowledge of each other,” Evans said, according to PEOPLE.
Field was able to send a text message to a friend in an apparent cry for help before he was killed .
Teixeira’s ex-girlfriend, who remains anonymous, told the Boston Globe that he unexpectedly called her April 22, saying she would never speak to him or see him again because he didn’t plan on living for much longer. Rather than seeking help or reaching out to authorities, she told him that she would pray for him.
“Yeah, I need prayer,” Teixeira told her, according to the Boston Globe.
The ex-girlfriend described Teixeira as a former security guard who was just released from prison earlier in April after serving a nine-month sentence for robbing two banks. He pleaded guilty last year to two counts of larceny. In both instances, he passed notes demanding money at the same bank with no weapon. Teixeira was sentenced to 364 days in prison, but the remainder of his sentence was suspended.
While it is not yet clear what Teixeira’s immigration status is, immigrants in the state can be deported for a number of crimes, including theft or burglary with a sentence of at least one year or 365 days.
The ex-girlfriend said Teixeira was born in Guinea-Bissau, and grew up in Cape Verde, a nearby island country off the west coast of Africa, according to the Boston Globe.
The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to ascertain Teixeira’s immigration status.
“ICE has no legal position with regard to this individual at this time, although we will continue to monitor the matter in case his criminal charges change his legal disposition,” an ICE official told TheDCNF.
The Boston Police Department referred TheDCNF to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office for comment, and it has not yet reached back.
The ex-girlfriend says Teixeira was a “gentleman” who got along very well her 9-year-old son and never once showed any signs of violent behavior. Teixeira reportedly broke up with her out of the blue after around six months of dating, with his only reason being that he was “not a good person.”
During their phone conversation, the ex-girlfriend found out about his prior transgressions at the bank and asked why he didn’t steal from her.
“He said, ‘No, I don’t steal from people. I rob banks,’” she told the Boston Globe. “I said, ‘OK — but you don’t hurt people, right?’ He said, ‘No, no, no, I wouldn’t do something like that.’”
(Editor’s Note: Police originally reported that Teixeira discharged his weapon, but since have clarified that two officers believed he fired at them. Prosecutors reportedly said during the initial court proceedings that Teixeira did not open fire on the officers. The story has been updated to reflect the change.)
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