Teen pleads not guilty to shooting 3 children

By David Abel and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Seventeen-year-old Jermell Robinson hid behind a door and did not show his face in Roxbury District Court today when he pleaded not guilty to a weekend shooting that injured three children.

Defense attorney Richard Doyle described his client as a 17-year-old who had "no idea what's going on" or why he was charged with this crime. About a dozen friends and relatives appeared in court to support Robinson, including a woman who identified herself as his mother.

"I think he's innocent, but I don't want to talk," said the woman, who would not give her name.

Gunfire erupted at about 8 p.m. on Saturday outside the Academy Homes I apartment complex in Roxbury, a longtime hot spot for gang violence. The bullets struck two 11-year-old boys and a 12-year-old, who were taken to Boston Medical Center and Children's Hospital with what police described at the time as non-life-threatening injuries.

Assistant Suffolk District Attorney Emily Cummings said today in court that two witnesses identified Robinson as the shooter. Those identifications were buttressed by video that showed Robinson wearing the same kind of clothing described by the witnesses, Cummings said, without specifying the source of the video.

Investigators also found a revolver with five spent shell casings in an alleyway not far from the shooting, both of which were linked to Robinson, Cummings said.

The defense characterized the description given by the prosecution's witnesses as "vague."

"That description could fit just about anyone in this neighborhood," Doyle said, adding there was nothing particularly distinct about Robinson's clothing.

Furthermore, Doyle said he has yet to see any evidence linking Robinson to the gun and shell casings.

Judge Edward Redd ordered Robinson held on $50,000 cash bail. His bail was revoked on another open juvenile case, the details of which were not disclosed in court. A probable cause hearing for the shooting has been scheduled for Nov. 25 in Boston Municipal Court.

Police said the shooting occurred outside an apartment on Academy Terrace, within the complex, which fronts Columbus Avenue between Ritchie Street and Academy Road in Roxbury. Two relatives who spoke to the Globe after the shooting said the boys were talking and playing when a person they described as an older teen approached them.

"All of a sudden, my brother and his friends tried to walk away, and this boy got in his face and shot at him," the 13-year-old said of her brother, who was wounded in the left thigh. "He was in shock."

The Globe reported on Monday that police had questioned a 19-year-old man in connection with the shooting. Robinson has been charged with assault with intent to murder, assault by means of a firearm, assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, discharge of a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, and carrying a loaded firearm on a public way.

• Comment
• Permalink
• Email