Police shoot speech therapist's son in Massachusetts basement after discovering woman's body

WAKEFIELD, Mass. (WBZ) -- Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said police shot a knife-wielding man inside a Wakefield home after discovering the man's mother dead in the basement Tuesday morning on Otis Street.

Wakefield Police were called to the home when Pamela Wood, 61, did not show up for an appointment. Wood worked as a speech therapist in the public schools system. The school called her family, who went to the home but did not have a key, so they called police. Firefighters pried open a back door and soon found Wood dead in the basement.

Ryan said that while officers made their way into the basement, Wood's son, Timothy Martin, 23, of Manchester, N.H., charged at them while holding a knife above his head. Martin did not live at the home.

Two officers fired their guns, striking Martin. He was taken to Lahey Hospital in Burlington, where he underwent surgery and is in intensive care. Five Wakefield Police officers were taken to the hospital as a precaution. Charges are expected to be filed against Martin soon.

The Boston Globe reports Pamela Wood was discovered “obviously deceased” with “multiple traumatic injuries,” Ryan told reporters.

“As they were calling for backup, officers proceeded down into the basement, announcing their presence,” Ryan said, adding that Martin allegedly “emerged from a corner of the basement, running from the officers in possession of a knife that he was holding above his head.”

There was no history of domestic violence at the residence, the Boston Herald reports.