Guard offers prayers for slain victim’s kin

Paul M. Langone, a slim, clean-cut 33-year-old special police officer, walked out of his family’s cream-colored house late yesterday morning to go get a bite to eat with his brother. Langone’s father said it was the first time he had left the house since Tuesday, when he shot and killed 37-year-old Jay Carciero, a father of four young children who had long struggled with bipolar disorder.

Langone was on the fifth floor of Massachusetts General Hospital for a scheduled appointment when he heard terrified screams coming from an office of the Bipolar Clinic and Research Program.

According to his father, Langone kicked in the door and found Carciero on top of Astrid Desrosiers, stabbing the doctor repeatedly with a folding knife he had brought with him. Langone ordered Carciero to drop the knife, but instead, Langone’s father said, the patient lunged at the officer, forcing him to shoot multiple times. Prosecutors concurred yesterday that it appeared Carciero went after Langone, who is licensed to carry a gun.

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley has not finished the investigation, but he has said preliminary findings indicate the shooting was justified.

Yesterday, Langone looked tired and somewhat overwhelmed as he was surrounded by a throng of reporters.

“I definitely don’t consider myself a hero,’’ he said. “I just want to say that my thoughts and prayers are with the Carciero family.’’

Langone declined to comment on the stabbing, but said he was grateful Desrosiers had survived.

“I’m just happy that she’s OK,’’ he said.

Langone, who patrols housing developments in Roxbury and Dorchester, said he is trying to get back to his normal life, which includes going to work and walking his dog.

“I’m OK,’’ he said, smiling a little. “Just a little shy from the attention.’’

He did not say what he was doing at MGH on Tuesday, but prosecutors have said there are other offices on the floor including dental and medical offices. Langone is not a security officer for the clinic.

As Langone and his brother drove away in a black sport utility vehicle, Langone waved to reporters and gave them a thumbs-up.

Moments later, the husband of Desrosiers, Claude, called one of the television reporters at the scene and asked to speak with Langone’s father, Paul F. Langone.

The elder Langone could be heard thanking Claude Desrosiers.

“We are praying for your wife’s complete recovery,’’ he said.

In a separate interview, Paul F. Langone said that moments after his son shot Carciero, he ran to Desrosiers and used his sweat shirt to stop the bleeding. The building was put on lockdown and police were on their way, so for a few minutes, Langone was alone with both the suspect and the victim.

The young officer tried to help Carciero, the elder Langone said, telling him “to try to breathe.’’

“We were praying he would make it,’’ Paul F. Langone said.

After the shooting, Langone, covered in blood, was taken to police headquarters in Roxbury, where he waived his Miranda rights and spoke freely with detectives for hours, Paul F. Langone said.

Langone said his son may say more publicly once the investigation is completed. Police still had not interviewed the doctor as of yesterday, said Jake Wark, spokesman for Conley. Wark declined to estimate when the investigation will be finished.

“The length of any investigation is dictated by its own complexity,’’ he said. “We’re not ready to assign a timetable.’’

Desrosiers remained in serious condition yesterday. At her Belmont home yesterday afternoon, her son, who declined to give his name, said he had visited her in the hospital recently.

“She’s doing better,’’ he said.

During their conversation, Claude Desrosiers told the elder Langone that he could not go into details of his wife’s condition.

“He said that she needs prayers,’’ Langone said.

Carciero’s family has released a statement describing the slain man as a caring, gentle father and the events around his death as “unexplainable’’ to them.

He will be buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Medford this morning following a funeral Mass at St. Agnes Catholic Church in Reading, according to Nichols Funeral Home, which is handling the arrangments.

In an obituary published on the funeral home’s website, Carciero was described as an athletic, devoted father who doted on his children, rooting for his son at football games and doing his daughter’s hair for her dance recital.

Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.