BOSTON — The domestic disturbance that Boston police were responding to when two veteran officers were shot and wounded may have started as an argument over the thermostat, police said.

The officers were called late Wednesday night to an apartment in the East Boston neighborhood, where Kirk Figueroa, 33, was allegedly threatening his roommate with a knife, police Commissioner William Evans said.

“His roommate met the officers out and clearly said that he was being attacked over an issue going on inside that apartment,” Evans said.

According to police, the roommates may have been fighting over the thermostat, but there likely were other issues.

When the two officers entered the home they were shot by Figueroa, who was armed with a tactical shotgun and wearing body armor, police said. Figueroa was then shot and killed by other officers.

“I don’t know what was going through his mind,” Evans said. “All I can tell you is he was a dangerous individual and our officers went in there unsuspecting of what took place.”