Answers sought in fatal shooting at house party
Jonathan C. Jacques, 18, was known to some, such as 7- year-old Dajour Dunkley, by his middle name, Calvin; his older friends knew him as 40 Cal, a nickname they said was based on his middle name and his physical appearance. Jacques, they said, was tall and thin, like the barrel of a gun.
Despite the dangerous sounding nickname, his older brother and his friends said yesterday that Jacques was not involved in street violence and that his death was the result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, as he left a widely promoted and raucous house party in Dorchester early Sunday.
Yesterday, city officials searched for 22-year-old Elizabeth Son, a North Andover resident listed in city records as the owner of the house on Milton Avenue. Attempts to reach Son, or her parents, Pamela and On, were unsuccessful.
The party was promoted on myspace.com and on a local entertainment website. It began Wednesday, and was formally named "The $hort $kirt Affair Part I." Partygoers said Part II was held Friday night and Part III Saturday. Each party had security, according to the entertainment website, and was run by a group based in Boston named "Back2-Basic Entertainment." The group's leader has a Myspace account, but attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.
Son is due in Boston Housing Court today.
Jonathan Jacques was one of five people shot about 3:20 a.m. Sunday, as they were leaving the party. The four other victims, whose identities were not released by police, suffered injuries that are not considered life-threatening. Police said the other victims were two girls, ages 14 and 15, and two boys, 16 and 17.
"Most kids want to grow up to be little thugs and gangsters, but not him," Devone Jacques, 19, said yesterday of his younger brother Jonathan. "He didn't want to be like that. He wanted to do something with his life."
Jonathan Jacques had dropped out of Jeremiah Burke High School in January, but was looking forward to completing his education and starting a career, his brother and school officials said.
Boston Police Department spokesman Officer Eddy Chrispin said that homicide detectives do not know if Jacques or any of the other victims were targets or if all five were bystanders hit by stray shots. No one has been charged.
Jacques and his family -- including his mother, older brother, and younger sister -- lived for about 14 years on Glendale Street in Dorchester, moving to another area in Dorchester about a month ago, Devone Jacques said.
Using red spray paint and black ink, friends turned the exterior of a Dorchester house at Glendale and Hancock streets into a wall of mourning for Jacques, who became the city's 68th slaying victim this year. Near the corner, empty beer and cognac bottles drunk in the victim's memory and a dozen candles were left on the sidewalk. On the Web, friends posted tributes to Jacques. One denounced the " 'hood holocaust" and asked people to stop bringing weapons to house parties.
Different versions of the victim's final moments were circulating yesterday. His grandmother, Anne Jacques, said his friends told her that he was talking to a friend on a cellphone when a bullet struck his lung.
Devone Jacques said heard his brother was trying to get a phone number from a girl when both Jacques and the girl were shot.
Devone Jacques and friends of his brother said they did not know the other victims. They said that Jonathan Jacques loved parties and that they were not surprised that he was at the Milton Avenue home, but added that they did not know how he learned of the party.
When he learned his brother had been shot, Devone Jacques rushed to Boston Medical Center early Sunday. A doctor told him his brother had died and then left him alone to say goodbye.
"I laid right next to him." Devone Jacques said. "I put my head on his chest for a good half hour, crying."
