Family Circle: Killing hits home with Boston mayor

The man believed to have fatally stabbed his mother in Weymouth early Monday before being killed by police was the father of Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s girlfriend’s child.

Police responded to a Prospect Hill Drive home – located in a residential neighborhood on a peninsula near Upper Neck Cove – just after 1 a.m. to find Paul Campbell, 49, “in an agitated state, apparently armed with one or more knives” and his mother, Patricia Campbell, 72, was seen sprawled out on the steps leading to the home.

Two police officers open fired fire on Paul J. Campbell after he became confrontational. Campbell was taken to South Shore Hospital where he was pronounced dead. His mother was pronounced dead at the scene, from what was initially believed to be stab wounds.

The cause and manner of death will be determined by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s office.

Campbell is the father of Lauren Campbell daughter of Walsh’s longtime girlfriend, Lorrie Higgins. In a profile of Higgins published last March in the Boston Globe, Campbell was described as a childhood friend of actor Mark Wahlberg, “a dark-haired rowdy who gradually built up a rap sheet of low-level crimes.”

Campbell served nine months in prison, but later went on to be an actor, appearing in small roles in two Wahlberg movies “The Fighter,” “Ted,” as well as in “American Hustle.”

Walsh released a statement through a spokeswoman Monday saying, “This is an extremely personal situation and I ask that Lorrie and Lauren’s privacy be respected at this time. This is an ongoing investigation and it is not my place to speculate on why or how this happened. My focus right now is on my family, Lorrie and Lauren, and their well-being.”

Both Campbells were believed to live at the home where the confrontation took place, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s office.

The DA’s office, along with State Police and Weymouth detectives are continuing to investigate the incident.

The two officers who shot Campbell were also taken to the hospital for evaluation and are currently on administrative leave.