Thursday, 4:30 PM
Prosecutors: ballistic tests confirm pistol was used in Roxbury slaying
By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
A prosecutor said today in court that ballistic tests overnight confirmed that the bullets that killed a man on a Roxbury street corner Tuesday were fired from a pistol found in the waistband of a 19-year-old who fled the scene moments after the shooting.
Jerome Wells, 20, was standing on Warren Street just before 6 p.m. when a man approached on foot and shot him several times with a .40-caliber pistol, said David Fredette, an assistant district attorney. A police officer working a detail at a nearby school heard the shots and caught a glimpse of the shooter. At the scene, witnesses told police that two people had gotten into a white car and officers quickly pulled over a vehicle that met the description, Fredette said.
Nathaniel Greene, 22, was behind the wheel, and Antonio Llamas, 19, sat in the front seat with a .40-caliber pistol tucked in his waist, Fredette said.
Llamas, of Malden, and Greene, of Roxbury, had not guilty pleas entered on their behalf today at their arraignment in Roxbury District Court. Court-appointed defense attorney Vivianne Elise Jeruchim urged people not to rush to judgment.
"It's way to early to make a decision about this case," Jeruchim said outside court. "I hope the public feels the same way."
Neither man showed his face in court as they listened to the proceeding from an adjoining room. Jeruchim said the case relies heavily on witness identification and she did not want images of her clients' faces widely disseminated.
Llamas was charged with first-degree murder and unlawful possession of a firearm. Greene, 22, was accused of being an accessory after the murder. Both men were ordered held without bond because of unrelated criminal cases that were already pending. Specifics about the existing criminal cases could not immediately be confirmed. Both have previous gun convictions, court records show.
The victim had played quarterback and was captain of the football team at Madison Park Technical Vocational High in Roxbury and was an all-city player in 2001. Wells was one of two people shot to death in Boston on Tuesday night.
On Ames Street in Dorchester, a man in his early 20s was killed. The two deaths raised the city's homicide count this year to 22, one more than at the same time last year.
