News

Revere residents upset over police response at apartment building

REVERE, Mass. — Residents of a Revere apartment building are upset after a police call wreaked havoc on their apartments Sunday morning.

Police were called to the building on a report of gunshots, but some say their response was too aggressive.

When officers got there, some said they smelled burnt gunpowder and then the residents in the apartment refused to come out.

"They tried to shoot me for no reason, I didn't know what was going on, I was sleeping," a resident of the apartment who didn't want to be identified said.

Four men came out of the apartment, but two remained behind. One eventually came out, but another stayed until police threw a tear gas canister through the window.

The man who spoke to FOX25 said the others were frightened after they were woken up by police bullhorns and saw officers with guns drawn outside their windows.

After the men were finally out of the apartment, some were taken into custody, but no charges were filed.

Police have not said what led to the standoff, nor have they apologized, but officials did release the 911 call that brought police to the scene.

In it, a man -- who doesn't identify himself -- says there are shots being fired in his building. He says he ran outside and borrowed someone else's cell phone to make the call.

Residents say the men in the apartment were targeted because they are Muslim immigrants from Morocco. They say they were frightened when police showed up and didn't come out because they were afraid they would get shot.

"I didn't want to go out, you know, I was scared, I was scared for my life," resident, Marwane Zimani, said. "If they came and just knocked on the door, everybody was going to go outside, why did they have to do all of that?"

The building owner showed FOX25 the search warrant police executed, which left holes in doors and ceilings.

Police never found a weapon or any evidence of a crime.

Now the building owners says he may file a lawsuit against the department.

You can hear the 911 call that led to the standoff in the player below.