A standoff between an armed suspect and the Massachusetts State Police in Fitchburg led to the death of Frankie, a K9, before Matthew Mack – the shooter – killed himself. 

Mack, 38, was wanted on numerous firearms offenses and was an accessory after the fact from a July 21 shooting in the city, the police said. 

Initial attempts to convince Mack to give up were unsuccessful and Frankie was shot in the process. Later a police drone found Mack dead inside the house, from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. 

This wasn’t his first brush with the law. In 2009, courthouse records showed Mack, then a 25-year-old resident at 130 Daniels St, Fitchburg, was sentenced to 1-1/2 to 2 years in Walpole state prison after he pled guilty to armed robbery. 

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In 2013, Mack ran into trouble with the authorities again, when he robbed two women at knifepoint in a local laundry, then stole a car and proceeded to lead the police on a chase through several communities. “They found (Matthew) Mack to be dangerous and will continue to hold him”, a spokesperson for the Worcester County District Attorney said at the time. 

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Mack was already out on bail, facing a drug-related charge, and a charge of resisting arrest. He was said to be homeless at the time. 

He faced a slew of charges including two counts of armed robbery, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, larceny of a motor vehicle, malicious destruction of property under $250 and larceny from a building. 

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In 2019, again, Mack was accused of stealing a washing machine coin box from his former apartment at 14 Longwood Ave, where he rented a basement space. A maintenance man, who was cleaning out Mack’s former apartment, found the box with the lock intact and multiple pry marks and showed it to the police. 

In the Fitchburg standoff that resulted in his death, state troopers were called in because intelligence indicated Mack’s propensity for violence.