"Shoot me! Shoot me! You better shoot me because I'm going to shoot you and I won't miss," Fontaine is quoted as saying.
PALMER - Court documents contain details of the standoff between police and a 17-year-old male armed with an air gun that ended after he was shot by an officer twice after he allegedly told the officer to shoot him, or he would shoot the officer.
According to a statement of facts submitted by Detective Sgt. Scott E. Haley that was included in suspect Shawn R. Fontaine's court file, Fontaine challenged an officer to shoot him, saying "Shoot me! Shoot me! You better shoot me because I'm going to shoot you and I won't miss."
Fontaine, of Palmer, was within 10 feet of the officer, who had taken cover behind a police cruiser. That officer, whose name has not been released and was not identified in the court file, then fired two shots from his department-issued .40-caliber Smith & Wesson. Fontaine was struck in the ankle and abdomen.
Fontaine is recovering at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, and is due in Palmer District Court for a pretrial conference on July 29. He was arraigned in his hospital room Wednesday, where he denied six counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and a single count of carrying a dangerous weapon.
The incident began just after 11 p.m. on Monday night, when the police received a call from a female resident at 22 Pinney St., who reported that a male subject whom she knew was banging on her front door, demanding to be let inside, and was armed with a gun.
"The female caller indicated that she was in fear for her safety, and that of her family, due to recent threats that the male subject made toward her," Haley's report states.
Once officers arrived, Fontaine pointed the weapon at them. The officers took cover, and the 20-minute standoff began, with Fontaine repeatedly pointing the weapon at the officers, threatening to shoot them and ignoring orders to drop the weapon.
Meanwhile, several other officers were attempting to remove the home's six occupants - three adults and three children ranging in age from 5 to 16.
After Fontaine was hit, police discovered that he had a carbon dioxide powered pellet gun, which, according to Police Chief Robert P. Frydryk, resembles the gun his officers use.
Wrote Haley, "All of the victim police officers indicated that they were in fear for their safety and that the defendant's actions and demeanor led them to believe that he was holding and pointing a firearm, rather than a pellet gun."
Said Frydryk, "It was a regrettable, but justifiable shooting."
Frydryk said the officer involved, an 8-year veteran, is on administrative leave, pending an investigation.
Fontaine was ordered held in lieu of $20,000 cash bail at his arraignment by Judge Paul F. Loconto. Fontaine's lawyer is Michael Kallock of West Springfield.
State police detectives assigned to Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni's office are investigating the shooting and circumstances leading up to it.
The Hampden County Sheriff's Department will take charge of guarding Fontaine while he is hospitalized.
Three police officers and an auxiliary officer from Palmer, along with two Monson police officers and state police responded that night to the standoff.