WESTMINSTER — The mother of a 22-year-old Westminster resident killed by police on Monday when they went to serve him a warrant is speaking out, saying that he was deaf, probably didn’t understand what the police were asking him, and that the whole situation was in part due to their ongoing inability to get help for his issues with depression.
On Wednesday, the Worcester Country District Attorney’s Office, confirmed that the man shot and killed by police on Monday was Zachary Beaudet, 22.
On Monday at 4:42 p.m., Westminster police officers responded to a house on South Ashburnham Road to serve an arrest warrant on Beaudet, a 22-year-old Westminster resident, and wound up fatally shooting him.
Upon arrival, officers made contact with Beaudet inside the home, according to the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office. Beaudet held a large knife and moved toward the officers, according to the DA’s Office.
Officers discharged their department-issued firearms, striking Beaudet. Officers immediately rendered medical aid to the injured man.
Beaudet was transported to a local hospital and later transferred to a Worcester-area hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.
Beaudet’s mother, Naomie Santamore, said she was mourning with family members and making arrangements with the funeral home on Wednesday.
She said police were evidently trying to serve Beaudet a warrant because he had missed a recent probation appointment because his car broke down. He was on probation after being charged with possession of child pornography last year.
Santamore said her son was deaf and had vision problems. The police “were not aware, I don’ t know if that had any impact on what happened, but he was deaf.”
“I think it’s definitely something that should be looked into, how the police officers should approach situations,” Santamore said.
She said, for her son, “It would be very jarring for people to come to a house and escalate a situation that shouldn’t be escalated.”
“He was a good kid. Obviously I know people have feelings about what happened a year ago. I think we use buzzwords like child pornography, but people don’t understand … if people knew the real story, it would probably change people’s minds.”
“He made a bad decision,” she said. But then the whole case spiraled, ending in his death, but Santamore said, “It was all unnecessary. He was never in trouble before last year, was never in a fight. He was a good kid. When they came a year ago I made it very clear that he was deaf and they continued banging on his door. I told them he couldn’t hear them. They interviewed him for two hours and I told them, he probably did not understand half of what they said.
“That’s sad that they’re not trained enough to know what to do in these situations because he was not the only deaf person in the community. … but that might not have made any difference. I understand their jobs are incredibly hard and I understand it’s impossible to be prepared or every situation.”
Santamore said she understands they were put in a spot as he supposedly was charging them with a knife, “but in other situations it could make every bit of difference” if responding officers were briefed on whether the people they were approaching were deaf or had other similar issues.
She said Beaudet had some mental health issues as well, and they had tried to seek treatment for depression at a local emergency room, as they were told that could lead to a placement for mental health care, but she said they were turned away.
“We begged them for help and they laughed in our face and asked us to leave. It’s impossible to get help for an adult with problems when no one will listen to you.” She said she was told, “Bad decisions don’t equate to mental illness,” so the emergency room was not the place for him.
“Just because someone doesn’t say they’re going to kill themselves that day .. he still needed help.”
“Plus, the idea that they killed my son, right or wrong, and I drove through the night from Virginia at 5 in the morning and I had to clean up my son’s blood on the floor … no mother should have to clean up their son’s blood off the floor.”
No Westminster police officers were injured in the incident.
The officers involved have been placed on administrative leave in accordance with standard protocol pending the outcome of the investigation.
The incident remains under investigation by Massachusetts State Police Detectives assigned to the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office and the Westminster Police Department.
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