In the jubilant chaos that engulfed Boston in the early hours of October 21, 2004, Victoria Torie E. Snelgrove, a 21-year-old white female and a promising journalism student at Emerson College, found her life tragically cut short. The city was a sea of celebration, euphoric after the Boston Red Sox clinched the American League Championship Series against their rivals, the New York Yankees.
For Snelgrove, it was a night to revel in the historic victory with friends, an innocent bystander caught in a turn of events that would end in heartbreak.
As the celebrations intensified near Fenway Park, the festive atmosphere began to fray, with some members of the crowd growing unruly, throwing bottles and creating a volatile situation for the Boston Police Department. In an effort to control the swelling crowds, police deployed less-lethal weapons, including the FN 303 projectile launcher. It was a shot from one of these weapons, fired by Officer Rochefort Milien, that struck Snelgrove in the eye. She was not the intended target and had not been participating in any of the disruptive behavior. The projectile caused a catastrophic injury, and despite being rushed to Brigham and Women's Hospital, she succumbed to her wounds approximately 11 hours later. An autopsy revealed the pellet had fractured the bone behind her eye, shattering into nine pieces and causing extensive damage to her brain.
In the wake of the tragedy, an investigation was launched, and Officer Milien was identified as the one who fired the fatal shot. However, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced that no criminal charges would be filed against any of the officers involved. The incident led to a significant review of the Boston Police Department's crowd control policies and the use of less-lethal weapons. The department ultimately destroyed their stock of FN 303 launchers in 2007, acknowledging they were more dangerous than initially understood. While no criminal accountability was sought, the city of Boston reached a $5.1 million wrongful death settlement with Snelgrove's family. A separate lawsuit against the weapon's manufacturer, FN Herstal, was also settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. Officer Milien was suspended for 45 days without pay following the incident and retired from the Boston Police Department in 2020.
