A rifle-wielding suspect shot and disabled a Massachusetts State Police robot during a barricade incident in Barnstable earlier this month.
At noon on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad Troopers John Ragosa, Michael Rockett, and Stephan McKay responded to a residence in Barnstable to assist a SWAT Team comprised of local Cape Cod police officers during the barricade, MSP reports on Facebook.
The troopers were told by officers on the scene that the barricaded suspect had fired on them with a rifle. The troopers decided to deploy robots. They sent two PacBot 510 tracked robots and a SPOT four-legged robot dog, “to assist in locating the subject inside the residence,” MSP reports.
“The Troopers conducted interior and exterior robotic operations to check the house systematically. Trooper Ragosa first deployed the SPOT robot – one of two operated by the unit – through the two top floors of the residence and cleared them. Trooper Ragosa then deployed the SPOT —nicknamed “Roscoe” — into the home’s basement. Controlling SPOT remotely, he first cleared a closet in the basement and then was about to open another door when the male suspect suddenly appeared from a bedroom armed with a rifle,” MSP said on Facebook.
Troopers reported that the suspect knocked the SPOT robot and moved out of the basement.
“Unbeknownst to the suspect, SPOT robots have a self-righting function, and Trooper Ragosa was able to return Roscoe to his feet. Trooper Ragosa began to walk Roscoe up the stairs behind the ascending suspect. When the suspect realized, with apparent surprise, that Roscoe was behind him on the stairs, he again knocked the robot over and then raised his rifle in Roscoe’s direction. The robot suddenly lost communications,” MSP says.
The robot was shot three times and had been rendered inoperable, MSP reports.
“After shooting Roscoe, the suspect shot at one of the PacBot robots that was outside a sliding door, missing it and striking an above-ground pool in the backyard. SWAT operators subsequently introduced tear gas into the house; a short time later the suspect surrendered without further incident. He was taken into custody by Barnstable Police,” MSP says.
Roscoe was taken back to his manufacturer, Boston Dynamics, by Trooper Ragosa. The company wanted to keep the damaged machine for research and will be replacing it with another SPOT, according to MSP.
