Neighbor charged in stray shot

Bullet came close to striking infant

The man suspected of firing the bullet that nearly struck a baby when it tore through a Dorchester home last week was arrested Sunday, police said.

James Williams, 24, of Dorchester is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, firing a weapon within 500 feet of a residence, and other offenses, police said. He was arraigned yesterday in Roxbury District Court.

Williams was arrested four days after his next-door neighbor, Camilla Roberts, a 24-year-old mother of two, reported that a bullet fired through a wall into her Castlegate Road home Friday morning narrowly missed her 3-month-old daughter. No one was injured.

A police investigation concluded that the bullet had been fired from the adjoining apartment, where Williams lives. Acting on a search warrant, police found an assault rifle, a pistol, and ammunition in Williams's apartment, police said.

Williams had fled by the time police arrived shortly after 8:30 a.m. Friday.

The Globe reported last week that one law enforcement source said Williams may have accidentally fired the shot while cleaning his gun. Roberts said Williams came to her door after the shot, asking if everyone was OK.

Roberts could not be reached last night, but a day after the incident, she said she was searching for a new house.

"I can't stay there," she said. "I can't have my kids there, knowing it could happen again - that it's that easy for a bullet to come through a wall."

Williams was arrested on a warrant at his apartment.