BOSTON — A Hyde Park man was arraigned today after he allegedly discharged a firearm in his home Monday, injuring his wife, and then lied to first responders about what had happened, Suffolk County District Attorney John P. Pappas said.
Korey Franklin, 32, who is a Boston Police officer, was arraigned in West Roxbury Municipal Court on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon – under a theory of recklessness – and misleading an investigator for the Christmas Eve incident at his Hyde Park home.
Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum, chief of the DA’s Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit, recommended $5,000 bail and orders that Franklin stay away from the victim, undergo a mental health evaluation, surrender all firearms, and not leave the state without the approval of probation officers. Judge Lisa Ann Grant released Franklin on his own recognizance, imposing all of the requested orders except the mental health evaluation, which he has already been ordered to undergo by Boston Police.
Boston Police and Boston Emergency Medical Services responded to Franklin’s home just after 1:00 pm on Dec. 24 after a 911 call for a person shot. That call was followed by a second one in which Franklin stated that the injured party, an adult female, had shot herself. The victim was transported to a Boston hospital with a gunshot wound that was not life-threatening.
Franklin told responding officers that the victim had shot herself accidentally while trying to put a personal firearm – not Franklin’s service weapon – into a gun safe. This statement was contradicted by physical aspects of the crime scene and other evidence gathered by investigators. This evidence indicated that Franklin was manipulating the gun in the living room and ejected at least two live rounds of ammunition by moving its slide back and forth. In the course of these actions, prosecutors say, the weapon discharged and the bullet struck the victim several feet away.
Prosecutors and police detectives remained in contact through Monday night and yesterday. By this morning, investigators determined that there was sufficient evidence to charge Franklin with causing the victim’s injury by recklessly handling the firearm and with misleading 911 operators and police officers about the circumstances of the discharge. The investigation into the incident remains open, Pappas said.
