Gunfire kills 2 outside a party
Men shot to death in a car nearby
Yesterday morning, a makeshift stage remained on the basketball court at the Franklin Hill public housing complex, and orange and blue balloons tied to a fence waved in the breeze. The ground was littered with plastic cups and bottles of Hennessy cognac, champagne, and
The court in Dorchester had been the scene of a raucous unauthorized bash attended by up to 200 people that began Thursday afternoon and continued into the night.
It was the last stop of the day for Jeffrey Jones, 41, and Jarrid Campbell, 27, killed in a rain of gunfire in a car a block away from the scene shortly after 11 p.m.
Jones had gone to the complex to visit his mother, but she wasn't home, according to his younger sister, Eloria Jones. After he and his sister chatted briefly, he went to the party. It is unclear how long he stayed there or when he met up with Campbell, but the two were sitting in a small, white car on Shandon Road when Jeffrey Jones turned the key in the ignition and a man carrying a gun casually walked up to the car, according to a neighbor who witnessed the shooting.
The man began shooting into the car, said the neighbor, who asked not to be identified because she fears for her safety.
The gunfire scattered dozens of people on the street and in a walkway between buildings of the complex.
Moments later, Jeffrey Jones's mother ran out of her apartment to the car where her son lay slumped over, and repeatedly screamed, "Jeffrey, Jeffrey, Jeffrey!" according to witness Janet Prout, who said she is a friend of the family.
Prout said she attempted to console the mother. "She was in shock," Prout said. "She kept calling her son's name. There were so many people around, stepping over the crime scene."
The victims were rushed to Boston Medical Center, where they were declared dead and became the 36th and 37th homicide victims this year. At the same time last year, there were 37 homicides.
Police have made no arrests in the killings, but did arrest four men who were with a crowd that showed up at the hospital hours later to check on the condition of the victims, according to Boston police.
Several officers were called to the hospital at 1:45 a.m. because of the size of the crowd. Police said the officers spotted four men acting nervously who were "known to be closely associated with the shooting victims" and decided to follow the men as they left the hospital, police said. The officers pulled their car over at Warren and James streets when the driver ran a red light, police said.
Inside the car, police said they found a loaded, semiautomatic gun and a large amount of crack cocaine. Melvin McGregor, 36 of Dorchester; Antonio Duncan, 31, of Mattapan; Antwan Green, 31, of Dorchester; and Dominique Jean-Pierre, 28, of Hyde Park were arrested on charges of unlawful possession of firearm and ammunition and trafficking a class B drug.
Police did not know what the relationship was between the four men and the two victims, but said "they were not adversaries," said Elaine Driscoll, spokeswoman for Boston police.
Eloria Jones said her brother was not married but had four children ages 9 to 18.
"He didn't deserve this; he was a nice man," she said, tears flowing as she sat on the first-floor stairs inside her mother's apartment building. She said her mother had lived at the development for about 30 years.
Jones's mother declined comment through her daughter.
Campbell's mother, Hazel Hutcherson, visited her dead son at the medical examiner's office late yesterday afternoon and said later in a telephone interview, "My son wasn't always an angel, but he had decided to become a responsible adult and parent, and he was working every day providing for his family as a construction worker." She said he was the father of two boys, ages 4 and 1.
Campbell's father, the Rev. Emanuel Hutcherson, is a minister at the Greater Love Tabernacle in Dorchester and often counsels families dealing with the deaths of relatives to violence, said the Rev. William Dickerson, pastor of the church.
"It's sad to see the Hutchersons going through pain, because they always console other families who are victimized by senseless violence," Dickerson said.
Boston police are investigating whether there is any link between the homicides and the party in the basketball court.
Lydia Agro, a spokeswoman for the Boston Housing Authority, said the party was held without authorization. All large gatherings on the premises must be approved by the authority and the Franklin Tenants Association, which typically helps with arranging security.
"We were not told about the party," Agro said. "We're hearing that it was sponsored by a church group, but we're not sure this is the case. We're working to find out who the organizers were," she said.
Agro said the party was unusual. "We haven't had any other incidents like this," she said.
But one neighbor said a similar party is held every year. "They have large gatherings at this time, typically this month," said Anthony Goss, 41.
Several people who live in apartments overlooking the basketball court said the party was mostly attended by young men, and that as the night went on, it got rowdier. Arguments broke out, although there was no physical violence, according to neighbors. A sound system had been set up, and smoke from at least three grills rose in the warm night air.
"There was a lot of swearing, a lot of loud music," said McKinley Sykes, 60, whose second-floor apartment directly overlooks the court. "A lot of the guys had beers in their hands. There were several cars parked at the edge of the court, and their lights were on to light up the stage. There were a lot of guys getting up on the stage, trying to rap and sing, talking about I'm going to shoot this guy, kill that guy."
