A judicial inquest into the Aug. 21 shooting death in Cambridge’s Central Square was confirmed Monday by Middlesex district attorney Marian Ryan.
The process is set to begin Sept. 9 and be led by Judge Holly Broadbent, Ryan said.
William Woodworth, 64, of Watertown, was shot by police in a loading dock and parking lot behind businesses at Massachusetts Avenue and Temple Street. Police were drawn there by a report to the department’s nonemergency line of “suspicious” people on bikes loitering, Ryan and acting Cambridge police commissioner Pauline Wells said.
Officers responded to the scene and “engaged verbally with multiple individuals” in the area, the officials said. According to their press release last week:
The preliminary investigation suggests that a man in his 60s, who was seated in a vehicle when the police arrived on scene, allegedly exited his vehicle and pointed a firearm at officers. Cambridge Police Officers attempted to physically disarm the individual and multiple shots were fired, striking the individual. A loaded firearm was taken from that individual.
Woodworth had a history of mental health issues, The Boston Globe reported. A sister said Woodworth had guns because of “paranoia,” the paper reported.
It is the statutory obligation of the district attorney to investigate officer-involved shootings, and the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office began the practice of requesting inquests for fatal incidents in 2018, Ryan said.
An inquest is conducted to find the facts and circumstances around a death and determine whether a crime occurred, according to the DA’s office.
“Given the heightened public interest in these cases, the use of inquests serves at least three important goals,” Ryan said, enumerating them as: ensuring that conclusions of fact and law are made by an impartial third-party legal expert and fact finder; allowing for a comprehensive and rigorous examination of the evidence from live witnesses under oath and subject to cross-examination; and, providing for “robust transparency, since the decedent’s family attends the proceedings.”
After the inquest, the court’s report and transcripts become public automatically.
In addition, Ryan “has made the decision to publish all additional records, videos, photos and audio recordings that are permitted by statute to be disclosed,” her office said.
