A Massachusetts shooting that left two black people dead Saturday is now being investigated as a hate crime, according to authorities.
The two victims of the shooting were identified as David Green, 58, a retired Massachusetts State Police officer— and Ramona Cooper, 60, an Air Force veteran who still actively worked with the military, NBC News reported. Authorities in Winthrop, Massachusetts, claimed they found “antisemitic and racist statements against Black individuals” connected to the shooter, Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said during a press conference Sunday.
The suspected gunman 28-year-old Nathan Allen allegedly drew swastikas, wrote about the superiority of the white race and how white people were “apex predators,” Rollins claimed in a statement. The “troubling white supremacist rhetoric” allegedly matched Allen’s handwriting.
Rollins did not reveal where the writing was found.
Allen stole a plumber’s truck Saturday, crashed it into a house, and shot two black bystanders multiple times just outside Boston, Police Chief Terence Delehanty said, according to NBC News. Before crashing into the home, Allen struck another vehicle, Delhanty said. The two passengers were hospitalized with injuries that were not life-threatening, NBC News reported.
After crashing the vehicle, Allen fled on foot and began shooting. Cooper was near the scene and was shot in the back three times. Green lived in the Winthrop neighborhood and tried to stop Allen’s rampage when he was shot four times in the head and three in the torso. A responding officer eventually shot and killed Allen after he refused to drop his weapon, the New York Times reported.
Allen, who had a license to carry, allegedly walked by several people who were not black and did not shoot them, the New York Times reported.
“Citizens of Winthrop offered help because they thought this individual, Nathan Allen, had just gotten in an accident,” Rollins said, according to the New York Times. “But they are alive and these two visible people of color are not.” (RELATED: Race Baiters Delete Tweets, Issue Corrections After Frenzied Effort To Pin Boulder Shooting To White Supremacy)
Investigators are currently unsure why Allen was driving in the Winthrop neighborhood but are aware that there are multiple synagogues in the town. “We don’t know where he was going; that is mere speculation,” Rollins said in the New York Times.
Allen is not a common suspect for a crime of this type, Rollins’ said. He reportedly had a Ph.D. was married, employed and had no criminal history. “To all external sources, he likely appeared unassuming,” the statement noted.