< Back to front page Text size – +

Defense attorney: Dorchester man did not know firearm was in his backpack

Print | Comments () Posted by John Ellement February 4, 2011 05:42 PM

Tweet
E-mail

By Brian R. Ballou and John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

DEDHAM -- A Dorchester man charged with bringing a "machine gun" to a college campus in Wellesley had no idea the weapon was in his backpack, his defense attorney said today.

Wellesley Police

Darryl Max Dookhran

Darryl Max Dookhran, 18, stayed out of public view when he was arraigned in Dedham District Court on several charges, including being a felon in possession of a firearm, illegal possession of a firearm, possession of a high-capacity ammunition clip, and resisting arrest.

District Judge Mary Hogan Sullivan ordered Dookhran held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing sought by Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey’s office. Dookhran was arrested in the registrar’s office at Massachusetts Bay Community College Thursday after what authorities described as a furious struggle with police.

Wellesley Police

The Tec-AB10 firearm

But in court today, defense attorney Larry Tipton said Dookhran believed he had become embroiled in a “gang fight’’ when police confronted him. Tipton also said that the weapon did not belong to Dookhran and that his client was mystified when police found the Tec-AB10 firearm in his backpack.

“The firearm was not his and he doesn’t know how it got into his backpack,’’ Tipton said. He also said that prosecutors did not provide “one reason, one motive, for my client to be carrying around a firearm on campus for so many days.’’

While Dookhran was arrested on Thursday, Norfolk Assistant District Attorney Adam C. Lally said in court that a fellow student at Mass Bay had first noticed that he was allegedly carrying a firearm on Jan. 20 when he came late into a class on writing.

The student, whose name and gender were not disclosed, allegedly saw the butt of a gun stuffed into Dookhran’s waistband.

However, the student did not report it to staff or police until Jan. 25 when Dookhran came to the same class and acted like he was trying to hide something on his lefthand side – the movement he made when the classmate saw the weapon, Lally said.

The student notified a professor who then alerted campus police. Police from Wellesley, the college, and MBTA Transit Police launched an investigation and tried to speak with Dookhran on Jan. 27, but the school was closed due to weather, said Lally.

Police searched the campus on Monday, but he did not come to the college. On Tuesday, they could not locate him on campus and did not see him at his usual MBTA stop, the Savin Hill stop on the Red Line, Lally said.

Thursday morning, however, they found him in the registrar’s office.

Lally said police recovered what he called a “machine gun’’ from the backpack. The weapon had one round in the firing position and had an ammunition clip loaded with 18 9mm rounds.

Lally said that Dookhran had been convicted as a juvenile of assault with a dangerous weapon, a firearm, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He was committed to the Department of Youth Services, but was released early from his commitment in late 2009.

According to a Wellesley police report filed in court, Dookhran has been questioned by police while he was in the company of known gang members in the Boston area.