During the ordeal, Fontaine repeatedly pointed the gun at officers and ignored orders to drop his weapon, according to a police statement.
PALMER – Police Chief Robert P. Frydryk said Thursday that the officer who shot a teenager twice on July 4 during a standoff returned to work this week.
Frydryk, who declined to name the officer, said he is still waiting for a report from District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni on the matter. Frydryk said the officer, an eight-year veteran, was on paid leave. Frydryk said it was his decision to place him back on duty.
"Our portion of the investigation is complete. Everything has been turned over for the district attorney to review. It's been a couple of weeks and I felt the timing was right to bring the officer back," Frydryk said.
Frydryk has said that he is confident that when the district attorney finishes his review of the case, he will find that the officer was justified in his actions.
Police responded to 22 Pinney St. on July 4, after a female resident reported that Shawn Fontaine, 17, was banging on her front door, demanding to be let inside, and was armed with a gun.
A statement submitted in the court file by Detective Sgt. Scott E. Haley said that
Fontaine shouted "Shoot me! Shoot me! You better shoot me because I'm going to shoot you and I won't miss," before being shot in the chest and ankle.
According to Haley's statement, after Fontaine was shot, officers discovered he was armed with an air gun. During the ordeal, Fontaine repeatedly pointed the gun at officers and ignored orders to drop his weapon.
Fontaine was arraigned in his hospital room at the UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, where he denied six counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and a single count of carrying a dangerous weapon, and was ordered held in lieu of $20,000 cash bail. He is due in Palmer District Court for a pretrial conference on July 29.
Frydryk described the weapon as a carbon dioxide powered pellet gun, which he said resembles the Smith & Wesson guns his officers use.
Calls this week to the district attorney went unreturned. Fontaine's condition also was unavailable.