Murder

News, Youth

Police urge Mattapan residents to fight culture of fear after shootings

/

MATTAPAN Police urge Mattapan residents to fight culture of fear after shootingsBy Cara Bayles, Town Correspondent Authorities urged Mattapan residents Tuesday night to fight against the culture of fear that kept their neighbors from coming forward with information about last month’s deadly shootings. “It’s not an easy thing to do, but that’s how you take your streets back,” District Attorney Daniel F. Conley told the crowd. The neighborhood meeting, the first since four people — including a toddler — were murdered on Woolson Street, drew 125 people to fill a room in the Mattapan Library. “There were a lot of people that saw stuff on Woolson Street that day, and heard the conversation outside their house,” one resident said during a question-and-answer session with Conley. “They’re afraid to come forward. They think about their families … they think if they come forward, they’re going to get killed.”Conley said that the state’s witness protection program can relocate people and offer police protect as long as there’s a legitimate risk. He added that the FBI was not involved in the investigation, and that undocumented immigrants should not worry about deportation if they testify. Police announced last week that the murders were the work of multiple perpetrators, and that suspects are still at-large in spite of the arrest of Kimani Washington, who was found in possession of the murder weapon.Some residents expressed frustration Tuesday night by the pace with which police were finding suspects. One person wanted to know if more suspects would be identified by the end of the year. Another wanted to hear details of the case.Conley would only address Woolson Street in generalizations, saying police and prosecutors were “making progress.” He reiterated that prosecutors need evidence to get a conviction. “Where does the evidence come from? Well, it could come from a physical item like a gun, a fingerprint, maybe if we’re lucky DNA evidence. But I don’t want to make it sound like a CSI episode,” he said.“Almost always, we cannot make a case unless a good citizen is willing to take the next step after they see or hear something, tell police about it, and eventually walk into court and point a finger at the accused and say this is the person who did this,” he said. Rev. William Dickerson of the Greater Love Tabernacle Church, where one of the victims was buried, said the neighborhood had to make residents, especially witnesses, feel safe in their neighborhoods.“It’s very commendable that so many people are coming together,” he said. “But how do we tackle the fear? Some people are going to have to step up and say, ‘I’ll walk with you to the store.’ “ Police assured residents that violent crime in Mattapan is actually down 2 percent over last year, and property crime is down 4 percent. Deputy Superintendent William Gross, the zone commander for Mattapan, Dorchester, Roxbury, and South Boston, said the attendance at Tuesday night’s meeting was a sign that the community was already starting to come together. Meetings with police from the B-3 district have been a monthly tradition since January of 2009, when about 15 residents met with police for a community meeting at their offices on River Street, according to district Captain Joe Boyle. “I talk to a lot of people in my travels, and when something goes wrong in Mattapan, Roxbury and Dorchester, they think, ‘Oh, they’re used to it.’ In no way are we desensitized to violence,” Gross told the crowd. “Your presence here shows that you care about your community, and you care about your future.”The meeting did not solely concern the Woolson Street slayings. Boyle presented an award to Saquawna Anderson, one of the teenagers who saved 94-year-old Theresa Jenkins from her burning home last week. He also presented a plaque to Redefining Our Community, a neighborhood organization that tackles graffiti and squatters, lobbies for better traffic safety, and throws an annual block party. ROC was founded by Ron Odom and his neighbors in 2008, one year after Odom’s 13-year-old son, Steven, was shot and killed while walking home from a basketball game. “We got tired of folks who don’t live in the community defining us, and of being defined by the negative people who live here,” Odom said after the meeting. Cassie Avery-Grice has been attending the police meetings since they started in January. She conceded that the shootings had spurred more residents to activism, but added, “I think the community was coming together before the shootings. We’re fed up with the negative things going on in our community.”

News, Youth

Roxbury teen found guilty of murder

/

RIP Soheil Roxbury teen found guilty of murderBy Colneth Smiley Jr. | Tuesday, October 19, 2010 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage A Suffolk Superior Court jury found 19-year-old Xzeniyeju Chukwuezi of Roxbury guilty of first-degree murder today for the cold-blooded slaying of 15-year-old Soheil Turner. Chukwuezi was also found guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm — the same weapon he used May 7, 2009, to fire away at Turner in the back of the head as the teen waited for a school bus early that morning on Dudley Street while munching on a honey bun. Chukwuezi faces a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole, according to Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley. “A 15-year-old boy’s life was snuffed out as he did what thousands of teenagers do every day,” Conley said. “He stood waiting for a bus to school. His life and all his potential ended when a coward walked up and shot him in the head for no good reason at all.” Through seven days of testimony, prosecutors stated Turner was murdered by Chukwuezi after purchasing a honey bun and bag of potato chips at Nunez Market on the corner of Dudley and Adams Street. The two talked briefly, prosecutors said, and then Chukwuezi shot the unsuspecting Turner twice with a .380 caliber semiautomatic handgun killing him. The entire incident was captured by surveillance cameras on two nearby buildings and the footage was corroborated through testimony of multiple witnesses, Conley said today. A formal sentencing hearing will be held at Suffolk Superior Court later today. Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1289929

News

Student from N. Easton slain by cops after N.Y. bar brawl

/

By O’Ryan Johnson and Christine McConville NORTH EASTON — A shattered father says there are conflicting accounts of what happened when his 20-year-old son was shot and killed by New York police in a bar brawl’s aftermath early yesterday.“We have been assured by the police there will be an impartial investigation into what happened,” Danroy Henry Sr. told reporters outside of his North Easton home, where the late Danroy Henry Jr., a Pace University football player, grew up. The grieving father had just returned from New York, where he spoke to police and eyewitnesses about what happened. He said there is more than one witness version of the fatal confrontation but said he will wait until police complete their investigation before elaborating further. Police in Mount Pleasant, N.Y., said they were called to Finnegan’s Grill in Thornwood, N.Y., around 1:20 a.m. after a “large group of unruly patrons” had gathered outside. As officers from several departments tried to “quell the situation,” a Mount Pleasant cop approached a car that was parked in a fire lane. Police said the officer knocked on the window, but the car, driven by Danroy Henry Jr., began moving. When a Pleasantville police officer tried to stop it, Henry accelerated and struck him, police said. With that officer on the vehicle’s hood, a second officer, who stepped in and tried to pull that officer to safety, was also struck, police said. The Pleasantville officer, still clinging to the hood of the car, then shot and killed Henry, police said. A passenger in Henry’s car was also shot, but survived the minor injury, police said. Henry was a 2007 graduate of Oliver Ames High School in Easton. He spent his freshman year at Iona College, then transferred to Pace in 2009. He was a junior studying business management and he played wide receiver and defensive back for the Pace football team. “He was our star cornerback,” said Pace football coach Chris Dapolito. “He was hands down the best athlete on the team … as well as a great person. I never had any problem with him. He was an extremely hard worker.” Pace president Stephen Friedman said the school was “deeply saddened by the news” of Henry’s death.“We extend the deepest sympathies of our community to Mr. Henry’s family and friends. We are working with the police investigation and as appropriate will share more information when it becomes available,” Friedman said yesterday. Henry’s father said his son had high moral character and was well liked by those around him.“He was a student athlete. He just played a great game. He was popular on campus and in this community,” he said. He said the family was still reeling from the young man’s death. “We need to make plans to deal with the death of our son,” he said. “We ask you to respect that.”Yesterday, as Pace students prepared for a vigil to celebrate Henry’s life, his relatives in Massachusetts struggled to comprehend how things could have gone so wrong. “He was a great kid,” Henry’s aunt Rene Dozier said. “Very humble, very respectful.” Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1289591

News

March to end the violence

/

By Ira Kantor Raising awareness about a spike in violence plaguing their neighborhoods, nearly 250 concerned locals trekked a mile-and-a-half from Roxbury into Jamaica Plain yesterday for the first “It’s OK” Walk for Peace. Coordinators Adrian Rivera of Spontaneous Celebrations in Jamaica Plain and Jamaica Plain resident Rip Hernandez said the walk was meant to address a number of summer shootings in local neighborhoods. Those shootings culminated with last month’s Mattapan massacre that left three people and a toddler dead. “We want our neighborhoods back,” said Hernandez, 41. “We know it’s not going to stop anything but it’s a start.”Walkers of all ages and ethnic backgrounds departed from St. Mary of the Angels in Roxbury and finished on Atherton Street in Jamaica Plain. “Everybody’s talking about the next one already,” Hernandez said. “We’re not going to turn our backs anymore.” Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1289593

News

Hitting the streets to increase peace

/

BOSTONMICHAEL NAUGHTON Back in July, when Rip Hernandez heard that a young man was shot on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain, he feared his 18-year-old son — who hangs out in the neighborhood — might have been a victim. “I’m calling my kid left and right to find out where he is,” said Hernandez, a DJ from Hyde Square. “We shouldn’t have to be living like that.” It was that shooting, and other fatal murders that claimed the lives of young teens earlier this year, that frustrated Hernandez to the point of wanting to do something. Yesterday, about 100 people joined him on the first “It’s OK Walk for Peace” through Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, organized by Hernandez and 23-year-old Jamaica Plain resident Adrian Rivera. Flanked by police officers from the neighborhood station, residents marched down Columbus Avenue chanting: “A people united will never be divided.” Some made signs that read: “It’s OK to smile. It’s OK to live freely.” When asked why she participated in the walk, 23-year-old Stephanie Pena of Roxbury said, “Just everything that goes on. All the shootings. All the killings.” Carmen Rios lives in Dorchester now, but grew up in Roxbury near where the walk was taking place. “To grow up and see this violence get worse and worse is disheartening,” she said before participating in the walk. “But to see all the people in the community come together is inspiring.”

News

Dad of 2 killed in South End

/

By Laura CrimaldiSaturday, October 9, 2010 The city’s latest victim of gun violence dreamt of buying his mother a house away from the Cathedral public housing project where he was shot dead on Thursday night, his sister said. The mother of Frederick Mathieson, 34, was on her computer waiting for her son to come back from the store when she heard four gunshots outside her apartment, said Mathieson’s younger sister, Danee. “It happened right outside,” she said. “My mother is still in shock. It happened at, I guess, 11:40 (p.m.) and she called me at 1:40 (a.m.) I thought I was dreaming. She’s like, ‘Your brother’s dead.’ ” Mathieson, who has not been identified by authorities, is the city’s 55th homicide victim this year, a police spokeswoman said. Authorities said police assigned to nearby District 4 heard the gunshots coming from the housing project and arrived at the 42 Harrison Archways crime scene within seconds. Officers applied pressure to Mathieson’s wounds until he was transported to Boston Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said. Mourners lit candles, wrote messages and left flowers at the fence where Mathieson was mortally wounded. His sister said the family does not have enough money to bury her brother, who has 10-year-old son Freddy and 4-year-old daughter Nishell. “He wanted to get out of this neighborhood. He wanted to buy my mother a house and provide a better life for his children and his family,” said Danee Mathieson, who grew up with her brother in the Cathedral project. “He was not into gangs at all. He was the kind of guy if there was ever a fight, he would be the first one to walk away,” she said. Mathieson said her brother was studying heating, ventilating and air conditioning at Kaplan and performed rap music under the stage name Freddy Flac. “He really was a good guy,” she said. “He didn’t deserve to die.”

News

Amid tragedy, city looks to prevention

/

Thursday, October 7, 2010 There is one burning question for Boston’s leaders, activists and residents in the wake of the cold-blooded murders of Eyanna Flonory and her toddler son Amani Smith, who were buried yesterday. Herald reporter Marie Szaniszlo put it to them: What needs to happen right now to prevent outrages like the Mattapan massacre? FAMILY FRIEND A lot of people are afraid. You want to get involved, but you’re scared of retaliation. The police need to show their presence more. You can’t see a crime on a side street if you just drove by it. We need more foot patrols. The city should consider using auxiliary police or some other way of increasing their presence on the street. – Erica Johnson DISTICT ATTORNEY I want to address the mothers and fathers out there. I want to speak to the uncles, aunts and older siblings. If there was ever a moment to consider the tragic toll of gun violence in Boston – and the part that every role model has in ending it – that time is now. We have to strip guns of their glamour. We have to change the idea that a young person must carry a gun to earn respect. Our response can’t end with outrage. If you know that someone on your street or in your neighborhood is carrying a gun illegally, tell someone. If you think a crime is going to be committed or someone is going to be hurt, tell someone. If you have information that can help solve a case, especially this one, tell someone. Silence is not a moral option. – Daniel F. Conley REVEREND This case is an extreme case, but there are things we can do. Parents can help develop an atmosphere of intolerance to violence by actively teaching how to resolve disputes in their lives. Schools ought to develop peer mediation programs, from middle schools on up, so that when there are disagreements, there is an alternative to violence. This kind of work should not be relegated to a few community activists and law enforcement. It’s the kind of work that produced the Boston Miracle. This is another watershed moment. I stood in front of that casket and saw a young woman holding her child. It had an effect on me that’s indelible. When you actively target a child, it ought to spark a community-wide outcry. – Jeffrey Brown, executive director of the Boston Ten-Point Coalition MAYOR As a city we must continue to attack the triggers that lead to youth violence – school truancy, homelessness, economic instability and the health of families. We must continue to invest in early childhood care to get our children on the right path to educational success and surround mothers and fathers with the supports necessary to build strong families. And it is crucial that we engage our residents in crime watches, community events and social activities that will help foster positive relationships with area organizations and their neighbors. We all must play a part in believing that we can build the peaceful communities we all deserve. The stakes are too high to sit on the sidelines. – Thomas M. Menino ADVOCATE There’s no magic bullet, but we’re so inconsistent about how we invest in kids. In so many cases, if you haven’t gotten help by middle school, you end up dropping out in high school. Early intervention is key. Opportunity, work, counseling – we don’t have enough, and kids fall through the cracks. You cannot help people who are poor with a lottery. It’s got to be done for all of them. The Legislature needs to vote on $400 million that the federal government has provided. That would restore a lot of social-service programs. The fact that we haven’t done that is an indication we’re not prioritizing. – John Drew, president and CEO of Action for Boston Community Development

News

Slain mother, child laid to rest

/

By Marie Szaniszlo and Laurel Sweet Thursday, October 7, 2010 They were buried the way they died: A mother cradling her toddler in her arms, his hand on hers. The final embrace yesterday of Eyanna Flonory and her 2-year-old son, Amanihoteph Smith, made grown men weep, clergymen thunder and a city unite. Hundreds of mourners waited in the rain outside Morning Star Baptist Church in Mattapan, a few blocks from Woolson Street, where the mother and child were gunned down last week with three other people in what remains an unresolved mass killing in a city that was already plagued by violence. “God has decided to use this tragedy to speak to this city,” Bishop John M. Borders III told mourners. “This is enough of this violence . . . I’ve sat back long enough, and I’ve watched too many people die.” “To those who were involved in this murder: We forgive you,” Borders said, “but you will feel the full weight of prosecution.” Flonory, 21, was a Brockton High School graduate who was studying criminal justice at Bunker Hill Community College. She was known for being a “fashionista,” her family said, and was proud to have just moved herself and her son into the first home of their own. “God made a mistake,” her brother, Dwayne Flonory, lamented. “He should have taken me.” Her mother, Darlene Schneider, said simply, “May they rest in peace. I would like justice.” Amani, as her grandson was known, was born on a sunsplashed day, that informed his cheerful disposition, his family said. He loved dancing to music videos, and his favorite foods were potato chips and oatmeal. His father and uncle had taught him how to dribble a ball and wondered yesterday whether he might have grown up to be an NBA superstar. Flonory’s boyfriend, Simba Martin, was buried Tuesday, a day after he would have turned 22. A funeral for a fourth victim, Levaughn Washum-Garrison, 22, is set for Monday in Mattapan. The fifth victim, Marcus A. Hurd, 32, remains hospitalized in critical condition. Meanwhile, Kimani Washington, 34, of Dorchester, so far the only person arrested in connection with the shootings, is expected to return to Boston Tuesday from Manchester, N.H., where he is being held as a fugitive from justice. He is due to be arraigned Wednesday in Dorchester District Court on firearm and stolen vehicle charges, the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office confirmed. He has not been charged with murder. Authorities say Washington was found with the key to the rented Ford Edge Hurd drove to Martin’s house. Police seized two handguns, ammunition, an empty 10-round magazine and marijuana from a backpack found in Washington’s bedroom at his mother’s apartment. His mother told police he’d briefly stopped by about 45 minutes after the murders occurred.

News

First victim of ‘nightmare’ slays laid to rest

/

By Marie Szaniszlo A community’s grief erupted yesterday as hundreds of mourners turned out yesterday for the first funeral for one of the four victims cut down in last week’s horrific Mattapan massacre. “Please come back! Please come back!” a woman wailed over the open casket bearing the body of Simba Martin at Timothy Baptist Church in Roxbury, where he was a tenor in the choir and volunteered in the vacation Bible school. “Our families will never be the same again,” the Rev. Larry Green said of the shootings, which have led to one arrest so far. “This is a nightmare from which some will never be able to recover.” Martin would have turned 22 Monday. Instead, he was laid to rest at Mount Hope Cemetery yesterday, six days after his body was found along with four other victims, including his girlfriend, 21-year-old Eyanna Louise Flonory, and her 2-year-old son, Amani Smith, on Woolson Street. Flonory and her little boy will be buried today after a noon service at Morning Star Baptist Church. The fifth victim, Marcus A. Hurd, 32, remains hospitalized in critical condition. “We need to pray for our community that this great tragedy will bring us closer together,” Green said. “No longer should we be burying our babies . . . Your anger and my anger have got to be turned. We’ve got to declare war on crime.” Martin attended Snowden International High School, where he took part in youth programs while on probation stemming from an armed robbery in the South End. Martin enrolled in Quincy College in May, hoping to earn a criminal justice degree. He was also a talented athlete, representing Timothy Baptist Church in the Off-the-Streets Basketball League. In 2007, he attended a “Youth Encountering Christ” trip through the church. “I sometimes yearn for a relationship with God,” he wrote afterward. “This is so important to me because I want a relationship, but I’m scared to go after it.” A funeral for the fourth victim, Levaughn Washum-Garrison, 22, is set for Monday in Mattapan. Police last week arrested 34-year-old Kimani Ato Washington of Dorchester for weapons violations and receiving a stolen motor vehicle in connection with the slayings.

News

Bishop believes slays may be ‘redemptive force’ for Hub

/

By Joe FitzgeraldWednesday, October 6, 2010 “There’s going to be a great deal of emotion in that sanctuary,” he said, “and we’re going to do our best to speak to it.” But he also knew he had to keep a grip on his own emotions. This coming weekend will mark the 29th anniversary of his pastorate in Mattapan, meaning there are very few situations he hasn’t seen or experienced before. Some occurrences, however, can still shake him to his core, and what happened a week ago yesterday was one of them. “I never have a feeling of despair,” he insisted. “I never have a feeling of hopelessness. But, yes, I do have feelings of being overwhelmed, feelings of not being strong enough to do what will be required of me, such as leading this service we’re about to have. Yet I also know God’s grace will be sufficient and that He will provide the strength that’s needed in my weakness.” Borders has been personally acquainted with horrific violence. Indeed, Morning Star Baptist Church, whose new home now towers over Blue Hill Avenue just blocks from where this massacre occurred, was the site of bloody mayhem in 1992 when hooded assailants invaded a funeral there and began attacking mourners. It galvanized this city, giving birth to what became known as The Ten Point Coalition, because some crimes are simply too unconscionable to ignore or forget. Back in 1963 such a crime occurred in Birmingham, Ala., when four young girls perished after a bomb was placed in the 16th Street Baptist Church where they were attending Sunday school. “They did not die in vain,” Martin Luther King Jr. declared in eulogizing them. “God still has a way of wringing good out of evil. History has proven over and over again that unmerited suffering is redemptive. The innocent blood of these little girls may well serve as the redemptive force that will bring new light to this dark city.” Borders, mulling those words, believes there’s a parallel in Boston this morning. “What Dr. King said that day absolutely applies to this service we’re about to have,” he said. “And I’ll tell you why it applies. “This little boy and his mother were innocent victims, and it’s as innocent victims that their sacrifice takes on a whole new redemptive element, an element that is intended to shock our consciences. “I intend to speak to that, to speak to this city about its spiritual climate, about the steps we need to take toward achieving peace. There’s a mandate for peace in the Scriptures. Where the Church is, peace should come as a result, yet we’ve seen just the opposite. “I believe the innocence of this young mother and her child will stagger us into a realization of how far we’ve gone in a wrong direction, and how much we need to turn to a different way.”

Scroll to Top