Editor’s note: Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr.’s office announced Friday that the Worcester Police Department was justified in its use of force in the fatal shooting of Phet Gouvonvong. Read more here.
As Phet Gouvonvong stood armed on Grafton Street and surrounded by police in Worcester earlier this year, he grew agitated as he shouted about officer-involved shootings, police records indicate.
Though negotiators tried to get Gouvonvong — who claimed to be wearing a bomb that turned out to be a fake — to sit down and take off his backpack for more than an hour, he didn’t comply. Ultimately, Gouvonvong was fatally shot by an officer after indicating he planned to walk toward a gas station where people were located.
MassLive obtained 199 pages of reports related to the shooting through a public records request. The records reveal further detail about what unfolded on Grafton Street, including repeated pleas from negotiators who asked Gouvonvong to lay on the ground before four gunshots were eventually fired. They also detail police conversations with Gouvonvong’s sister and a friend, who reported that he was involved with Black Lives Matter and had a mental illness.
Gouvonvong, 31, was armed with a rifle and other weapons and claimed there was another bomb somewhere in the city when he was shot in the early morning of April 21. Worcester police identified Paul Cyr as the officer who shot Gouvonvong.
Gouvonvong was “quick to anger and violence” and thought the world was out to get him, his sister told police. He had been staying with his sister at 86 Hamilton St. since reconnecting last year after Gouvonvong spent time in Rochester, New York, according to one of the records.
Police spoke with the sister, whose name is redacted from the report, during the day following the shooting. The sister told police that everything was fine the evening before Gouvonvong was shot. After coming back from New York, Gouvonvong had been “calm and upbeat,” according to the report.
Gouvonvong was engaged with Black Lives Matter. He told his sister that he had a plan, but never revealed to her what the plan was, she told police. She also said he was brainwashed by a podcast, which she described as “quasi-religious and radical,” the report said.
The sister told police that in the weeks after the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of killing George Floyd, Gouvonvong had been paranoid and told her to take all her money out of the ATM “so the government couldn’t take it,” the report said.
She never saw Gouvonvong with any weapons, according to the report, and said “he was not smart enough to build a bomb.”
Gouvonvong had been aggressive toward police since childhood, according to the report, which also indicated that he had mental illness but no medication for it. Gouvonvong was a survivalist and had everything he owned in his backpack. At times, he would stay in the woods away from people, the sister told police.
A friend of Gouvonvong’s told police during a phone conversation a few days after the shooting that Gouvonvong had seizures, a neurological issue caused by PTSD and schizophrenia, records indicate. That friend also said Gouvonvong got involved with Black Lives Matter after Daniel Prude died following an encounter with police in Rochester, New York.
Cyr wrote in a report that during negotiations, he lowered his rifle to a “less intimidating position” and told Gouvonvong his name. He started asking Gouvonvong questions and told him they wanted to help.
“He said something like he was sick of ‘you guys’ killing Black people. I assumed by ‘you guys’ he meant police,” Cyr wrote. “He said something like, you guys just killed a 16-year-old. Again, I said we don’t do that around here and we want to help him.”
The emotion in Gouvonvong’s voice fluctuated from “timid to aggressive” during the negotiations. He was aggressive when talking about police shootings, the report reads.
Gouvonvong declined Cyr’s request to lay on the ground.
“The male stated that he would not lay down because if he did he would detonate the bomb which was attached to his body. It should be noted that this particular area of the city is densely populated with several businesses and multifamily dwellings. Although all vehicular traffic had been stopped, pedestrian traffic was still visible as were several patrons inside of the Cumberland Farms parking lot and the store itself,” Sgt. Shawn Barbale wrote in one report.
“Based on my training and experience, I estimated that a possible bomb with the dimensions consistent with the backpack the male was wearing would immediately decimate at least a 1,700-foot radius causing catastrophic destruction to people and property,” Barbale continued.
Cyr wrote that he asked Barbale, a SWAT team leader, what the precedence was with regard to less lethal force. Barbale “confirmed the protocol by saying (what I already believed) that because the suspect has a bomb, lethal force is our only option.”
Eventually, Gouvonvong yelled that he was going across the street to the gas station, a concern to officers because of the gas itself and because people were in the area. Cyr wrote that he responded with something like “I can’t let you do that.” He repeated that message again as Gouvonvong started to stand up, the report indicates.
“The suspect said ‘I’m going.’ Again, I yelled, ‘no, don’t do it.’ He started deliberately walking towards the gas station and I took four shots to stop the threat, the third shot impacted his torso and had no effect. My fourth shot impacted his head and the suspect fell,” Cyr wrote. “I discharged my weapon because I believed the individual posed an immediate threat of death or serious physical injury to numerous civilians and officers in the area.”
After Gouvonvong was shot, robots were used to ensure no bombs would go off and that the scene was safe, records indicate. Authorities eventually determined the device was a fake.
In 911 audio previously obtained by MassLive via a public records request, Gouvonvong repeatedly told police he didn’t want anyone to get hurt.
“Tell the cops that I’m armed and don’t kill me ‘cause I don’t want to blow up and I don’t want nobody to get hurt at all,” he tells the dispatcher at one point. “So please, I’m hoping that this goes right.”
While Gouvonvong was on the phone, officers started to descend on the Grafton Street area, records indicate. Officers at the scene reported back that they saw Gouvonvong with an AR-15-style rifle and a large backpack. One officer was advised to use an unmarked SWAT van to try and locate and observe Gouvonvong without being detected, another report reads.
Officers made contact with Gouvonvong near Armando’s clothing store at the corner of Barclay and Grafton Streets. At first, Gouvonvong appeared to be complying with the surrender process, according to the report.
When crisis negotiators got to the scene, Gouvonvong was on his feet and walking around at the intersection of Grafton and Barclay streets.
“His behavior fluctuated from somewhat compliant to extremely agitated,” the report reads.
When noticing that it appeared Gouvonvong was wearing body armor, Barbale realized that meant “the use of less lethal options such as TASER or impact munitions [would be] potentially ineffective,” the report reads.
Officers could see a black switch on Gouvonvong’s left hand/wrist with what appeared to be wires attached to it. Negotiations had been underway for more than an hour with no results, the report reads.
At one point, officers learned Gouvonvong was thirsty. A bottle of water from Cumberland Farms was rolled to Gouvonvong, who sat down after taking a sip, according to the report.
But he got back up again, police indicated. Several times during the negotiations, Gouvonvong advanced toward officers then backed off, according to records.
During the negotiations, Gouvonvong made comments about “his people being deprived for 400 years and that he was going to settle the score,” the report reads.
While Cyr was trying to negotiate, Gouvonvong screamed that he wanted a “ride to the station” and would only “speak with one police officer.” He also made comments about wanting the media there, records indicate.
Officer Duy Chau wrote in a report that he heard Gouvonvong state he would go toward the Cumberland Farms gas station, where there were people and gas tanks, just before he heard the four gunshots go off and saw Gouvonvong drop to the ground.
As the incident was unfolding, officers worked to evacuate people from residences and businesses in the area, police records show. Other officers directed pedestrians and motorists away from Grafton Street during the investigation.
Gouvonvong’s mother called police during the incident, telling the call taker she believed her son was involved in a police shooting in the city. The mother told police she and her son had an estranged relationship but had seen each other earlier in April on Easter, records indicate.
Items collected at the scene included magazines, knives, a machete, a first aid kit, a tent, a handgun and the mock explosive device, according to the report.
In a report, Lt. John Towns wrote that a review of the sequence of events indicates that Cyr’s actions were “reasonable, lawful and proper.”
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