Vocal Karen Read supporters say they’ve had bleach-filled balloons thrown on their lawns

Canton police say they're investigating the balloon incidents and have sent evidence off for processing.

Canton police are investigating after several residents vocal in their support of murder defendant

say their lawns were targeted with bleach-filled balloons.

According to NBC10 Boston, which first reported on the damage, three of Read’s supporters were targeted, and two have filed police reports. The residents were tipped off after noticing random patches of dead vegetation in their yards and gardens, as well as broken balloons and the smell of bleach, NBC10 Boston reported.

The residents reportedly included Brenda Sweeney, Jenn O’Donnell, and Rita Lombardi, who ran for a seat on the town’s Select Board last spring but was unsuccessful. All three women have been vocal about Read’s case, speaking up at Select Board meetings to voice their displeasure with the town’s status quo.

“I think it’s horrific, and they’re trying to scare us into just shutting up and sitting down and letting things get back to ‘as usual’ in town, which we don’t want to happen,” Sweeney told NBC10.

“These people are stuck in middle school,” Lombardi reportedly added.

Read’s lengthy murder trial bitterly divided the town of Canton, where she’s accused of intentionally backing her SUV into her then-boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, following a night of drinking. Prosecutors allege Read left O’Keefe to die outside a fellow Boston officer’s home on Jan. 29, 2022, but lawyers for the Mansfield woman say she was framed in a vast coverup. They argue O’Keefe entered the home at 34 Fairview Road that night and was severely beaten, attacked by the family’s dog, and dumped outside in the snow.

Read’s trial ended in a mistrial earlier this month, and prosecutors say they intend to retry the case.

Reached for comment Monday, Canton Police Chief Helena Rafferty said she is aware of the bleach balloon allegations and has personally corresponded with the impacted residents.

“Any type of act in this community, or any community for that matter, that places another in fear for their safety and/or diminishes their quality of life is unacceptable,” Rafferty said in a statement.

She said all evidence that can be processed has been transported to the Plymouth County Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

“We are hopeful that we will be able to identify what was in the balloons etc.,” Rafferty said.

Meanwhile, Read was back in court Monday to discuss next steps for her upcoming retrial. Judge Beverly Cannone scheduled Read’s second trial for Jan. 27, 2025, with lawyers set to argue a motion to dismiss two of the three charges on Aug. 9.