BOSTON (AP) – At least one big-city police department has suspended use of pepper-spray pellet guns blamed for the death of a 21-year-old college student who was shot by police trying to quell a rowdy crowd of Red Sox fans last week.

The Seattle Police Department said it had immediately suspended use of the equipment until it can determine what happened in Boston and gather more information on the firearm that was blamed for the death of Victoria Snelgrove, who was shot with a pellet in the eye after police fired into a crowd of revelers.

Seattle Police spokesman Scott Moss said that the guns are restricted to only a few selected and trained personnel and have not yet been used.

Other police departments around the country said they have found the so-called “less-than-lethal” weapons to be effective and would keep them in use. Boston police, who acquired the weapons in preparation for this summer’s Democratic National Convention, have shelved them at least temporarily and have gone back to using a previous version of the pepper-spray pellet guns. “We’ve used it on six occasions and haven’t had any problems with it,” said Sgt. Carlos Rojas, of the Santa Ana Police Department in California.

The reassessment comes as the Boston Police Department girds itself for another potential Sox-inspired frenzy, with the hometown team standing on the brink of World Series victory against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Red Sox had their first chance to clinch Wednesday night.

Snelgrove was among an estimated 80,000 fans who swarmed Kenmore Square last week after the Red Sox won the AL pennant.

Boston beat the rival New York Yankees in the ALCS, to send it to its first World Series since 1986.

Officers fired into a crowd of fans near the backside of the Green Monster left-field wall, striking Snelgrove in the face and at least two others. Paul Gately, 24, of Cambridge was struck in the face, requiring stitches to patch a hole in his cheek, as well as several times in his torso, leaving bruises and welts. Kapila Bhamidipati, of Bridgewater, N.J., was struck in the temple and said doctors had to remove small pieces of plastic from his forehead and found a large piece embedded under his skin.

Within 24 hours of Snelgrove’s death, Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O’Toole suspended use of the pepper guns, which fires a pellet of pepper spray.

Several days later, O’Toole tapped former U.S. Attorney Donald K. Stern to lead an independent panel that will investigate the case.

As the state’s top federal prosecutor, Stern prosecuted mob figures and pursued a tax-evasion case against former state House Speaker Charles Flaherty. After leaving the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2001, Stern led an investigative commission that found the Suffolk County sheriff’s office was rife with management problems and political patronage.

O’Toole called Stern in London on Tuesday, where he was traveling on business, to ask him to head the investigation into the police role in Snelgrove’s death.

“He just needed to know that it would be an open an honest and thorough investigation. She assured him it would be, and he said OK,” said Hank Shafran, a spokesman for Bingham McCutchen, Stern’s law firm.

Virginia-based FN Herstal, which manufactures the FN303 weapon used in Boston, said there have been no comparable incidents since the gun went on the market about two years ago.

“We have had no other instance in any other deployments where anyone has been seriously injured or killed,” said Bucky Mills, deputy director of law enforcement sale, marketing and training.

Mills said a “couple hundred” law enforcement agencies have purchased the guns, including New York City and Washington, D.C., as well as several federal agencies.

Charles “Sid” Heal, a commander with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and an international expert on less-than-lethal force, said the only thing that stopped his department from buying the weapon was its cost – about $900 per launcher.

Heal said the FN303 launcher used by the Boston police was known to be very accurate.

“They’re one of the best that are out there,” Heal said. “We tried it, we liked it, we just couldn’t afford it.”

Because it is not propelled with a great deal of velocity, Heal said he was shocked that it was implicated in a death. It hits with about 25 foot pounds of energy, Heal said, much less than other less-lethal weapons used for crowd control.

“If you had asked me before hand, I would have said it couldn’t have happened,” Heal said.

On its Web site, FN Herstal states that the weapon should never be aimed at a person’s throat, neck or head.

The same weapons were used without incident in College Park, Md., in 2002 after the University of Maryland basketball team won the NCAA championship.