Posters displayed in remembrance of Krister at a Lexington Park vigil last week.

Decorated officer wounded in shooting is recovering

By George P. Hassett

One night after 100 law enforcement officers held a vigil at Massachusetts General Hospital for a wounded Somerville detective in serious condition, another vigil was held at Lexington Park: to remember the 21-year-old man who shot the officer and died in the shootout.

Candles were lit, pictures passed around and stories were shared to remember Matt Krister in the wake of a shooting that shocked a neighborhood and left a decorated detective fighting for his life.

Tyler Burgess, a friend of Krister’s since they were first grade classmates at the Brown School and who helped organize the vigil, said about 40 of Krister’s friends attended. In an obituary, Krister’s family said he was an honor roll student who volunteered to help the homeless.

That portrait of Krister – as described by his friends and family – of an ambitious, generous young man has collided with the violent episode police say he set off on Nov. 2, making it harder, his friends say, to understand why it happened.

Police said Krister immediately opened fire on Detective Mario Oliveira at 6:40 p.m. as Oliveira and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives attempted to serve an arrest warrant to Krister on Gibbens Street.

Oliveira was struck by bullets in the stomach, hand and shoulder and almost died from blood loss. Acting Police Chief Mike Cabral said ambulance workers saved Oliveira’s life at the scene. Oliveira is  recovering and up and and walking around after the shooting. “He is well on his way to recovery,” said Mayor Joe Curtatone.

Oliveira, a two-time Somerville police officer of the year, has received many commendations for his police work, including honors for breaking up a document forgery ring and saving a child from a burning home.

For Krister’s friends who gathered at Lexington Park on Wednesday the shooting was a shock, even if the accusation of Krister involved with illegal guns wasn’t.

Detective Mario Oliveira (top) Matthew Krister (bottom)

“We couldn’t see him squashing a bug, never mind shooting a police officer,” said Lauren Ribeiro, who said Krister was a longtime friend and like “a little brother” to her. “We understand what he did was terrible but he wasn’t a bad kid.”

Friends say Krister had both artistic and business ambitions: he was attending a school for digital media production and in May he earned a real estate license. But he continued to be intrigued by guns even as he worked to change his life, they said.

“It was like an addiction, a fascination,” Ribeiro said. “He may have wanted to rebel.”

In March 2009, Krister was arrested and charged with armed robbery for allegedly robbing two black-market electronics dealers  at gunpoint. The charges were later dropped.

Friends said Krister was involved with buying guns legally in New Hampshire, scratching off the serial numbers and selling them in Boston for profits of $100 to $200 a gun. The arrest warrant Oliveira attempted to serve has not been released by the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.

Krister and Oliveira knew each other and met at least twice in the weeks before the shooting, Krister’s friends said. Oliveira had been the lead detective in the 2009 armed robbery case, they said.

In October, less than a month before their fatal encounter, Krister met with Oliveira and federal agents in Boston in connection with a gun investigation, his friends said.

Cabral said Oliveira could be released from the hospital this week.