Murder

Victim aimed to combat youth violence By Laura Crimaldi | Tuesday, October 5, 2010 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage Mattapan massacre victim Simba Martin, who would have turned 22 yesterday and is being buried today, was remembered as youth activist who sought to eradicate the street violence that claimed his life.In an open letter, the Boston-area Youth Organizing Project described Martin as a “true leader” and “courageous man.”“Let us remember that Simba worked to decrease youth violence, and make Boston a better place for young people,” the letter states. “Simba didn’t judge others, and showed true compassion and dedication with his work in the Boston community.”Martin, his girlfriend Eyanna Louise Flonory, 21, her son, Amanihoteph Smith, 2, and Levaughn Washum-Garrison, 22, were gunned down Sept. 30 on Woolson Street in Mattapan. Marcus A. Hurd, 32, is at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.The only suspect arrested so far, Kimani Washington, 35, of Dorchester, yesterday agreed to return to Massachusetts from New Hampshire to face a weapons charge. He is not charged with murder.A funeral for Martin, a native of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, was set for today.The YOP letter said Martin joined the group in 2005, launching its chapter at Muriel S. Snowden International School.In 2006, Martin was charged with armed robbery and assault with a dangerous weapon in a South End incident, but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was sentenced to three years of probation. He was mentored at the time by Snowden officials, who told a judge he had a lot to offer.Yesterday’s YOP letter said that in 2007, Martin served as a representative to the United Youth & Youth Workers of Boston and launched the “Youth Way on the MBTA” campaign, pushing for affordable T passes for students. “Simba was not full of potential, he was full of accomplishments,” wrote YOP director Najma Nazy’at. He could not be reached for comment yesterday.Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1286591

Kin hold out hope for Mattapan victim By Christine McConville and Laurel J. Sweet | Monday, October 4, 2010 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage Photo by Angela Rowlings As a Dorchester man heads to a New Hampshire court today in connection with the Mattapan bloodbath that left four people dead, the still-shaken family of a fifth shooting victim is holding out hope for his survival.“Everyone is praying for a miracle,” said Dorchester’s Till Freeman.Marcus Hurd, 32, was shot in the back of the head early Tuesday, in what police believe may have been a drug deal gone bad, sources have said. Simba Martin, 21, Levaughn Washum-Garrison, 22, Eyanna Louise Flonory, 21, and her 2-year-old son, Amani Smith, were killed in the rampage.Since then, Hurd has clung to life at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.Hurd’s family says that if he does pull through, “He’ll never be the same,” Freeman said.But, he added, “He could live. We only go when God says it’s time.”On Friday, police arrested Kimani Washington, 35, of Dorchester, in Manchester, N.H. The warrant arrest came after police found marijuana and two guns in a home that Washington visited after the murders.Washington, a career criminal with multiple assault-related arrests, will be arraigned today in Manchester District Court as a fugitive from justice. He is not charged with murder.“That charge requires we prove only that the individual in New Hampshire is the individual we have charged here in Suffolk County,” said Jake Wark, spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley.If Washington doesn’t fight rendition, Wark said he “could be brought back within the week” to answer in Dorchester District Court to unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition and receiving a stolen vehicle.Wark declined to say if investigators are still searching for additional suspects.Meanwhile, Boston police are maintaining a strong presence on Woolson Street, where the 1:15 a.m. execution-style shooting occurred.Yesterday afternoon, patrol officers walked past the makeshift shrine that mourners have created in recent days.The largest, most colorful display is in front of the white picket fence where Flonory and Smith were gunned down. Stuffed animals, flowers and personal notes are covered in plastic to protect the collection from the weather.On top, a large, handwritten note reads: “Many in the suburbs are praying, too.”Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1286313

Suspect in Mattapan shooting waives extradition from NH By Laura Crimaldi and Laurel J. Sweet | Monday, October 4, 2010 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage Photo by AP Boston police found a loaded 9mm Ruger and .40-caliber Iberia, ammunition, and an empty 10-round magazine in a backpack at Kimani Washington’s house last Wednesday, a day after the Mattapan massacre that left a mother, toddler and two men dead and another man critically injured, new court records show.Four bags of marijuana and a scale were also found at 45 Fowler St. in Dorchester, according to court records on file at Dorchester District Court. One handgun had an obliterated serial number and six bullets inside while the other held seven rounds, papers show.Washington, 35, who was arrested on a fugitive from justice charge Friday in Manchester, N.H. in relation to the guns and drugs, has agreed to return to Massachusetts. The Dorchester man waived extradition to the Bay State this morning, clearing the way for Boston police to take custody of him.Dressed in an orange, prison-issued clothing and bowing his head, Washington appeared before Judge Norman E. Champagne in Manchester District Court.Boston police have until 11 p.m. next Tuesday to take custody of him.Manchester Police Lt. Robert Cunha said the court gave police a full week to pick up Washington so that appropriate security can be coordinated for his return. Cunha also said Washington’s lawyer will be out of state.Washington has not been charged with murder.Boston police have said they interviewed Washington within hours of the quadruple homicide early Tuesday morning on Woolson Street that left Eyanna Flonory, 21, her 2-year-old son Amani Smith, her boyfriend, Simba Martin, 21, and Levaughn Washum-Garrison, 22, dead.Marcus Hurd, 32, is still in critical condition after the shooting.Police said they talked to Washington after he was seen with Hurd’s SUV. Authorities later searched Washington’s home, police said, and found the handguns, drugs and ammunition. Those weapons have yet to be linked to the slayings. But it gave police enough to get a warrant for Washington – who, by then, had fled the state.Family of the dead were in court this morning to see Washington.“We want justice,” said Theresa Payne, one of Flonory’s aunts, after the hearing was finished. “We are all hurting. Justice is get the people who did this.”Erik Jones, an uncle of Flonory’s, said, “It’s good that they caught somebody.”Before the hearing, John Newman, Washington’s lawyer, said his client objects to his name and face being associated with the Mattapan massacre. He pointed out that Washington is only facing charges for weapons and has not been charged with murder.According to records on file at Dorchester District Court, Washington was free on $225 bail for a domestic assault and battery case when the Mattapan rampage occurred. He was scheduled to go on trial Nov. 29 for slapping his longtime girlfriend across the face.His court file is several pages long, including arrests for firearms, drugs and abusing women. Records show he has been in and out of prison.Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1286414

Hunt continues in Mattapan slay probePolice at ‘critical stage’ in quad-slay case By O’Ryan Johnson and Marie Szaniszlo | Sunday, October 3, 2010 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage Photo by Jim Michaud Police continue to hunt suspects in the quadruple Mattapan massacre, authorities said yesterday, less than 24 hours after the arrest of a Dorchester man with a long criminal history in connection with the case.“We’ve reached a critical stage of the investigation. This arrest by no means reflects the end of our efforts,” said Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley.U.S. Marshal for Massachusetts John Gibbons urged Mattapan residents and other members of the public to aid police.“Do not allow these criminals to take control of these neighborhoods,” Gibbons said.Kimani Washington, 35, of Dorchester has been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition and receiving a stolen motor vehicle in connection with the shootings. He is not charged with murder.U.S. Marshals and the Boston Police Department Fugitive Apprehension Team spent Friday in New Hampshire tracking down Washington, who had fled there within hours of the massacre to stay with an unwitting old friend, Monique Benson.Benson, a 31-year-old nursing home employee who lives with her 13-year-old son, told the Herald she had grown up with Washington in Dorchester, and they had made plans “two to four weeks ago” for him to come visit for her birthday, which was Thursday.On Tuesday, she picked him up at the bus station, she said, and there was no indication that anything was wrong.When she returned home from work Friday to find her apartment surrounded by police, “I was shocked,” she said. “They’re making him out like he’s a monster. He’s no monster. He’s a good guy. They just think he knows the person who did it.”Benson said she and Washington “go way back,” but she did not know what, if anything, he does for a living.“All I know is he’s always with his kids,” she said. “Why would he kill a 2-year-old? He’s got three or four kids of his own.”Washington has had brushes with law enforcement for years, including arrests for:Forged checks that were cashed at a bank in July 2001.Passing bad checks in 2006.An assault and battery warrant in Dec. 29, 2009, days after he was accused of punching a woman.A July warrant for assault and battery in April, when he was accused of slapping a woman and escaped on foot before police arrived, according to a report.The dispositions of those cases were unavailable yesterday. Prosecutors said Washington had no outstanding warrants and only the most recent open assault and battery case when he was stopped Tuesday morning in Grove Hall near a car described by a fifth shooting victim who remains clinging to life.Police Commissioner Ed Davis said Washington was brought to the homicide unit, where he eventually produced a key to the car and told cops he’d been inside. However, police did not have evidence to hold him at the time.When cops discovered the vehicle was the same one taken from Woolson Street, they went to Washington’s Fowler Street home where the owner allowed them in to look for him, police said. During the search, cops found a plastic bag with marijuana as well as a bag with two firearms, police said. Those weapons have yet to be linked to the slayings. But it gave police enough to get a warrant for Washington – who, by then, had fled the state.He was arrested in an intricately p lanned raid described yesterday by multiple residents of the Deer Haven Preserve apartment complex in Manchester, N.H. Before they knocked on the door of Apartment 208, about 30 Manchester and Boston police and U.S. marshals evacuated the units on either side. A U.S. Marshal used a specially designed camera to crouch to the ground and peep under the door, and asked to see the layout of the unit directly above it, residents said.With sharpshooters perched in trees nearby, a spotlight shining on the windows from outside and a battering ram and ambulance at the ready, police in bulletproof vests surrounded the building with guns drawn.A next-door neighbor, who asked that her name be withheld, said officers then banged on Benson’s door, telling Washington: “We know you’re in there! Open the door!”Washington did not resist arrest, police said.An employee at the Hillsborough County Jail yesterday said, he had no lawyer listed.His extradition hearing is tomorrow.Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1286096

Profile of a suspect By Christine Mcconville and Colneth Smiley Jr. | Sunday, October 3, 2010 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage Photo by Herald file Kimani Washington is a vicious drunk, an aspiring rapper and a swaggeringly confident ladies’ man, who turned away from his loving family to embrace the thug life, devastated friends and relatives said yesterday. But even as a hardened career criminal, Washington, 35, a father of five, knows better than to get mixed up in the slaughter of a mother and her baby, they said.“My whole family is blown away,” one of Washington’s many cousins told the Herald yesterday. “Women and children are off-limits, he knows that.”Late Friday, Washington was arrested on firearms and other charges in connection with the Mattapan massacre that left three adults and a toddler dead and another man clinging to life. Washington, who also goes by Kimani Ikhal, has not been charged with murder.“I’m flabbergasted,” said Tabitha Alford-Cinelli of Hyde Park, who told the Herald she was a “little cousin” to Washington. “I don’t know my cousin to be that type of person. He went to prison for drug charges and things like that, but nothing this drastic.”Washington was a fun-loving child who grew up in Grove Hall and was still a student at Charlestown High School when his first child, a boy, was born. Around that same time, relatives said, he started drinking and fighting.“He’s known as a bar brawler,” one cousin said about the 5-foot-9, 190-pound Washington. “He’s been in and out of the system for years.”By the mid-2000s, the Boston police said he was one of their most-wanted criminals. Over the years he faced charges of forging checks, trying to pass counterfeit cash, and assault and battery.It was a role that Washington apparently relished. On Facebook, he brags of being “The realest (racial epithet) livin’ In and outta prison.”That bravado made him popular with the ladies, said friends and relatives, although Washington did not have a steady job, own a car or have a permanent residence.Shai Childers, 22, an “off and on” former girlfriend who last spoke to him a couple weeks ago, said Washington took pride in pointing out to her that he was featured on “Boston’s Most Wanted” on cable’s On Demand.And he was hardly a model boyfriend.“He looked nice, was caring, loving and sweet, but he seemed like a liar,” she said. “He just lied to me a lot about other females.”Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1286097