Roxbury shooting victims were random targets, prosecutor says

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

It took a prosecutor just six words today to describe a plan hatched last fall by two men with a gun roaming a housing project in Roxbury.

"Shoot the first individuals they saw," said Assistant District Attorney Gretchen Lundgren.

The alleged gunman -- Shawn "Shanks" Daughtry, 27, and Demetrius "Demeet" Wardsworth, 19 -- found their random victims "simply sitting on a front porch enjoying the fall evening," Lundgren said.

The gunmen opened fire and killed 29-year-old Urel Duncan and injured another man, who survived the assault on Sept. 20 at the New Academy Estates housing development. The two victims had no known connections to drugs, gangs, or crime, Lundgren said. In fact, they had never even met their attackers.

Daughtry and Wardsworth were arraigned on murder and assault charges today in Roxbury Municipal Court and held without bail. They were arrested Tuesday after a lengthy investigation by Boston police and Suffolk prosecutors.

Daughtry and Wardsworth were stopped and questioned 50 minutes after the shooting, Lundgren said. Investigators swabbed their hands for gunshot residue and confiscated their clothes, but they let them go so police could strengthen their case, she said.

Bruce Carroll, a defense for Daughtry, argued unsuccessfully that his client should be released on $10,000 cash bail. Daughtry did not flee and continued to live with mother and sister in Hyde Park even though he knew he was a prime suspect in the shooting, Carroll said.

Relatives of the victims groaned in the public gallery when Carroll said that Daughtry should be released on bail for the sake of his 18-month-old son.

“He tears up when he talks about his son,” Carroll said. “He wants to be with his son.”

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