CANTON — Canton police and firefighters responded to the Lamplighter Village apartment complex, located at the intersection of Turnpike Street and Stagecoach Road, at approximately 6:40 p.m. this evening following a report that a person was shot.
According to a statement from Canton’s Interim Police Chief Joseph Perkins, when first responders arrived on scene, they located a woman in her 20s who had been shot in her vehicle.
“The victim was treated at the scene and transported to a Boston hospital with serious injuries,” Perkins said. “The Canton Fire Department blood transfusion unit deployed with transfusable blood and was riding along with the ambulance to Boston.”
The preliminary investigation indicates that the woman was sitting in the driver seat of the vehicle, parked in the apartment complex waiting to meet someone, when a man, who police say may have been the person she was waiting for, approached the vehicle with a dark handgun and opened fire into the vehicle. A second individual who was sitting in the passenger seat next to the victim was not injured.
“The suspect fled the scene and is described as Black skinned, late teens or early 20s, with a skinny build, about 5’5″ to 5’6″ tall, clean shaven wearing a black beanie hat,” Perkins said in the statement. “Police do not believe this was a random act of violence, and significant mutual aid resources are in Canton conducting a search for the suspect.”
Police officers from Stoughton and Randolph, as well as Massachusetts State Police, Â the State Police Air Wing, area K-9 units, drone units and specialized units attached to the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council (METRO-LEC), also responded to the scene to assist.
Perkins said Turnpike Street should be avoided at this time due to a significant police presence in the area. Drivers are advised to seek alternate routes.
“The Town of Canton has issued a Reverse 911 call to residents in the immediate area asking that they shelter in place at this time,” Perkins said.
At the time the statement was issued, police were still actively searching for the armed suspect.
