In the early hours of January 5, 2011, Eurie Stamps, a 68-year-old Black male, was at his Framingham, Massachusetts home when a SWAT team executed a search warrant. The retired grandfather of twelve was not the target of the raid; police were investigating his stepson for suspected drug activity. Officers broke down the door and detonated a stun grenade inside the apartment.
Complying with police commands, Stamps lay face down on the floor with his hands up.
As the SWAT team cleared the residence, Officer Paul Duncan approached Eurie Stamps to secure him. According to the officer's account, he stumbled and his finger slipped, causing his M-4 rifle to discharge. The single gunshot struck Stamps, who was pronounced dead at the scene despite immediate medical attention from a medic on the team. He was unarmed and had no criminal record. His stepson and another individual were arrested on drug-related charges as a result of the raid.
The Middlesex District Attorney's office investigated the shooting and determined that it was an accident, concluding that Officer Duncan's actions did not rise to the level of criminal conduct. Consequently, no criminal charges were filed against him. Duncan was, however, removed from the SWAT team. The incident drew criticism from community members and civil liberties organizations, who pointed to it as a tragic example of the dangers of increasingly militarized police tactics in routine drug cases.
Following the decision not to prosecute, the Stamps family filed a wrongful death and civil rights lawsuit against the Town of Framingham and Officer Duncan. In 2016, the town reached a $3.75 million settlement with the family. Years later, in 2020, the Middlesex District Attorney's office announced a review of the original investigation and publicly released hundreds of pages of documents related to the case.
