'It was a very bad night in the city'
Two men slain, nine handguns are recovered
The newest memorial to a Boston homicide victim surrounded a tree in a Dorchester public housing development yesterday: several teddy bears, a CD, candles, Florida Marlins baseball hats, and a pair of black and red sneakers once worn by 20-year-old Cordeiro Andrade.
"He didn't deserve this," said his 19-year-old sister, Vanessia Allen. "He didn't do nothing to nobody."
Friends and Allen said that Andrade had recently released a rap CD under the name of "White Coke" and had done two shows in Brockton.
Ceaira Cobb, who said she is four months pregnant with Andrade's child, said she was not attracted to him because of his rapping or his clothing. "I just liked him for himself," she said.
Andrade was identified yesterday by Boston police as the man shot to death on Ames Street in the Franklin Field development around 5:15 p.m. Tuesday. Police had made no arrests by last night.
His slaying started a violent few hours in Boston during which another man was shot to death and police recovered nine handguns, includ ing two stolen from an Arlington gun shop over the weekend.
"It was a very bad night in the city," Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said, far different from the "extremely quiet" prior three weeks.
Without being specific, Davis said at a press conference that all of the gun-related violence Tuesday night was tied in some way to gang activity.
Davis said that around 10 p.m. Tuesday, four youths were stopped after police heard 15 to 20 shots fired near the intersection of Rosedale and Washington streets in Dorchester. One juvenile pointed a gun at a police officer, Davis said.
Three 15-year-olds were arrested, and three guns were recovered, two of which were stolen from the Arlington store, Davis said.
Arlington Police Chief Frederick Ryan said 16 handguns were stolen early Sunday from the PSMG Gun Co., the second time it has been robbed since September 2005. Ryan said that the shop's owner, Paul Giragosian, has lost his federal licenses to sell firearms and that Giragosian has not been able to sell guns since earlier this year.
But Giragosian's lawyer, D. Dean Carnahan, disputed that the stolen guns were used in the Rosedale Street incident. Carnahan said his client's customized guns cost at least $2,000.
Carnahan, who attended Davis's press conference, said it won't be clear until serial numbers of the recovered guns are matched with records for the stolen guns.
In a telephone interview, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said that when he first heard of the Arlington gun robbery, he had a "bitter foreboding" that the guns would end up in Boston.
He vowed to seek maximum punishment, possibly sending some cases to federal court, for those charged with gun offenses Tuesday.
Also yesterday, two men pleaded not guilty in Roxbury Municipal Court to charges in connection with the killing Tuesday of 20-year-old Jerome Wells.
Assistant Suffolk District Attorney David Fredette told Judge Edward Redd that Antonio Llamas, 19, of Malden, walked up to Wells on Warren Street and shot him several times. A Boston School Police officer heard the shooting and saw the clothing the shooter was wearing.
Witnesses provided a description of a car and a partial license plate number, and Fredette said police stopped a white car driven by 22-year-old Nathaniel Greene about a minute after the shooting.
The prosecutor said Llamas had a .40-caliber pistol in his waistband and that ballistic tests matched the gun to shell casings recovered from the Wells shooting scene. He faces charges of murder and unlawful gun possession.
Greene was charged with being an accessory to murder for driving the alleged getaway car, Fredette said. Redd ordered both men held without bail for 60 days because of pending cases against both involving gun violence.
About 25 relatives of Wells, a former star quarterback at Madison Park High School, were in the courtroom, but declined to comment afterwards.
Llamas's defense lawyer, Vivianne Elise Jeruchim, urged people not to rush to judgment. "It's way too early to make a decision about this case," Jeruchim said outside court. "I hope the public feels the same way."
John R. Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com. 