Inquest Into Fatal Cambridge Police Shooting Scheduled to Begin Sept. 9

The inquest into the fatal Aug. 21 officer-involved shooting is scheduled to start on Sept. 9, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan.

Cambridge police fatally shot 64-year-old William Woodworth two weeks ago, and Ryan announced that her office planned to file an inquest shortly after Woodworth was identified. Body camera footage related to the case will not be released to the public until the inquest is concluded.

Ryan’s office has used judicial inquests as the standard procedure for gathering the facts surrounding fatal officer-involved shootings since 2018. Inquests do not themselves result in criminal charges or determine guilt, but are intended to establish when, where, and how a death occurred and the material circumstances surrounding it.

The judicial process — which includes a review of all entered evidence in the case, witness interviews, video, and audio recordings — will establish the facts and circumstances surrounding the shooting. The inquest into Woodworth’s shooting will be overseen by District Court Judge Holly V. Broadbent, who has served as a district judge for 12 years, according to a Monday statement from Ryan.

Woodworth’s family and top Cambridge officials, supported by acting Cambridge police commissioner Pauline E. Wells and City Manager Yi-An Huang ’05, began calling for the release of body camera footage days after the shooting. A protective order restricting the public release of the footage until after the inquest has concluded has since been filed.

Woodworth’s shooting is the first fatal shooting involving Cambridge officers since the department rolled out body cameras last year. In addition to a report that will be released after the inquest is complete, Ryan has also committed to releasing additional records, videos, photos, and audio recordings that can legally be disclosed.

According to an August 22 statement from the DA’s office, Woodworth exited a vehicle and allegedly pointed a loaded firearm at officers. Police unsuccessfully attempted to disarm Woodworth, and multiple shots were fired, and he was later pronounced dead at the scene. A loaded firearm was taken from Woodworth at the scene.

Woodworth’s family told The Boston Globe after the shooting that he had struggled with mental health issues since childhood. Woodworth was also arrested in 2023 for unlawful possession of a loaded firearm. His attorney successfully moved to exclude evidence found during a search of his vehicle, and the case was closed without a verdict nearly a year after the arrest.

The last fatal shooting by a Cambridge police officer was in 2023, when officer Liam McMahon shot and killed 20-year-old Sayed Faisal, who was armed with a knife and suffering a mental health crisis. Faisal’s shooting was the first officer-involved shooting in Cambridge in more than 20 years.

The inquest into that incident began in February 2023, but did not result in a public report until October — more than nine months after Faisal was killed.

The inquest into Faisal’s shooting included a four-day closed court proceeding in May 2023, with testimony from 29 sworn witnesses, 53 exhibits entered into evidence, and a visit to the location where Faisal was shot. Judge John F. Coffey also held four hearings before the proceedings to establish rules for the inquest and schedule the proceeding.

Throughout the closed-door judicial proceedings, hundreds of residents called for increased transparency and for the Cambridge Police Department to publicly name the officer responsible. CPD refused to disclose McMahon’s name until the final report of the inquest was made public, though he did not face criminal charges after Coffey found that his actions were “objectively reasonable.”

—Staff writer Shawn A. Boehmer can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at shawnb.18. Follow him on X @ShawnBoehmer.

—Staff writer Claire A. Michal can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at ClaireMichal.154.