DA clears officers in fatal Somerville shooting

By Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

The Middlesex district attorney's office has cleared the police officers who fatally shot a suspect who opened fire on a Somerville detective in November, of any wrongdoing.

The suspect, Matthew Krister, was wanted on firearms charges when he shot Detective Mario Oliveira five times from inside of a car in front of his home on Gibbens Street in Somerville on the night of Nov. 2, according to the office of Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr.

Brian Higgins, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and two Somerville police sergeants, Joseph McCain and Gerald Reardon -- who had accompanied Oliveira to arrest Krister -- then fired at him, according to Leone's office.

Krister was later pronounced dead at Somerville Hospital, while Oliveira was treated for life-threatening injuries at Massachusetts General Hospital and later released.

Leone's office said an investiation of the shootings revealed that Krister called an ex-girlfriend in the weeks leading up to the shooting and said he would "get into a shootout" with police if they came for him.

"The officers who discharged their firearms did so to save Detective Oliveira’s life, their own lives, and possibly the lives of others in the vicinity of the shooting," Leone said.