By Globe Staff

As Boston School police were arresting a 18-year-old Roxbury youth for allegedly bringing a handgun into East Boston High School, the teen issued a warning.

“Be careful,” Brendan Campbell allegedly said on Thursday. “There’s one in the pipe.”

According to Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley what the teenager meant is that the .25 caliber Raven Arms police allegedly found in his backpack was ready to fire because one round was in the chamber.

In all the firearm was loaded with six bullets; the serial number was obliterated, prosecutors said.

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By Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff

Haitians who fled the earthquake-ravaged nation last year will be eligible to apply for special immigration status that allows them to live and work legally in the United States for a fixed amount of time, US immigration officials announced today.

The move extending so-called temporary protected status to those who fled the disaster marks a major shift for federal officials, who had resisted granting it to thousands of Haitians, in part to discourage a life-threatening mass migration by sea.

Until now, only Haitians who were already in the United States before the quake had been eligible to apply for the special status, leaving those who arrived afterward with few options. Many ended up overstaying their visas and becoming homeless.

The announcement comes days after Haiti inaugurated a new president.

Under their new status, the Haitians who came after the quake will enjoy the protected status until Jan. 22, 2013. The government also gave the 18-month extension to Haitians who came to the US before the quake. It had been set to expire in July.

"Providing a temporary refuge for Haitian nationals who are currently in the United States and whose personal safety would be endangered by returning to Haiti is part of this administration's continuing efforts to support Haiti's recovery,'' Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said in a statement.

The estimated 10,000 people who had fled after the quake on visitor visas, which they overstayed because they had no jobs or homes to return to, ended up crowded into relatives' homes or homeless and living in motels, as the Globe reported in January.

About 48,000 Haitians, who had been living in the United States before the quake, obtained TPS afterward.

Haitian immigrants and advocates cheered the news with tears and hugs today. Most had spent the past year and four months in limbo, descending into poverty while the reconstruction stalled in their homeland, leaving them nothing to return to.

Nonprofit groups such as Catholic Charities assisted them with English classes and other aid. Yesterday, an official with the charity said the announcement would transform their lives.

"We are all ecstatic," said Marjean A. Perhot, director of refugee and immigration services of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Boston. "I ran down the hall I was so excited. We are so thrilled, so thankful. Today has made the lives of thousands of Haitians hundreds of times better."

In Brockton, where in January the Globe revealed that many Haitian families who fled the quake had ended up homeless and living in motels, Judeline Manigat hailed the news as a lifesaver for her husband and 6-year-old daughter, who arrived after the quake. With him unable to work, the couple ended up living in the Quality Inn in Brockton.

"Good! That's good," Manigat said. "I'm very happy."

Temporary protected status is a discretionary tool that the Homeland Security secretary uses in cases of emergencies to allow people from a nation torn by war or disaster to receive temporary safe haven in the United States until the US government deems that it is safe for them to return.

People must apply and pay fees in exchange for permission to live and work in the United States.

The earthquake ravaged Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010, destroying most government buildings and killing an estimated 230,000. Hundreds of thousands of people are still homeless, and a cholera outbreak there has killed more than 4,800 people.

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A Quincy man who went to watch a friend appear in the Roxbury courthouse to face gun charges was himself arrested on a gun charge – while he was in the courthouse parking lot, authorities said today.

Jaquan Bennett,19, was arraigned today in Robxury Municipal Court where he pleaded not guilty to illegal possession of a firearm, second offense. Bail was set at $25,000 cash.

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office said Bennett was also ordered held without bail for allegedly violating the terms of his probation stemming from a 2009 illegal firearm possession case.

Prosecutors said Boston police from the Youth Violence Strike Force were in the area Thursday after Roxbury court officials expressed concern about Bennett and others who watched as Girold Grand-Pierre was arraigned on illegal firearms charges.

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By Globe Staff

A woman was killed when her motor scooter crashed this afternoon in Boston’s Roxbury section, Boston police said.

Police responded to a report of a woman who had fallen off her scooter at about 1:55 p.m. at Blue Hill Avenue and Dudley Street, said Officer James Kenneally, a police spokesman.

The woman was taken to Boston Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

Preliminary investigation indicated that the woman lost control of her scooter and crashed and was not wearing a helmet, Kenneally said.

No further information was immediately available.

By Globe Staff

A Somerville man who has been convicted once on illegal gun possession is facing new allegations following an extensive chase through Roxbury that ended with his arrest – and the recovery of two handguns.

A police officer stopped at a red light Wednesday night heard two gunshots while at the intersection of Melnea Cass Boulevard and Tremont Street. Seconds later, the officer spotted a suspect in a gray hoodie and jeans run toward Brook Marshall Way and get in a black Honda Accord, police said.

The driver put the car in gear and sped off, with police in pursuit. Police said the officer chased the vehicle from Brook Marshall to Ruggles Street to Dewitt Drive to Madison Park Court to Shawmut Avenue to Malcolm X Boulevard to Tremont Street to Prentiss Street and to Albert Street, where the car came to a stop.

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By Globe Staff

The body of a woman was found in a Roxbury building last night and police are trying to determine how she died, authorities said.

Boston Police spokeswoman Jill Flynn said the woman's body was found in a fifth-floor stairwell in a building at 38 Annunciation Road shortly before 10 p.m. last night.

Flynn said investigators have determined there were no signs of trauma on the body and authorities have ruled out foul play.

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By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

At 3:12 p.m. Monday, an MBTA bus driver currently known only as Operator 2157 made a radio call to the dispatcher, his voice tinged with anxiety and irritation.

"This is Operator 2157. Could you send police to my position right away?'' he said in the conversation released by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority today. "I have a situation that needs to be dealt with right away. Right away.''

The T dispatcher asked for details and 2157 provided them. "I have unruly passengers, a couple of kids smoking. I'm at Dudley [Street] and Hampden [Street.] Please get them here right away.''

The operator is off the air for the next few minutes until he calls dispatch again. Now, he sounds in pain, and fear is evident in his voice.

"Attention. This is 2157,'' he says. "I was just assaulted. Got knocked out. Got my head smashed into the window. I'm still at the same location. There is a kid with his foot underneath the bus. About 10 of these kids jumped me.''

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Boston Fire department

The scene on Dudley Street today after an MBTA bus slammed into a building when the driver was attacked by passengers.

By Globe Staff

The driver of an MBTA bus lost control of his vehicle and slammed into a building when he was assaulted by passengers, an outbreak of violence that began when the driver asked a passenger to put out a cigarette, officials said this afternoon.

Five people were transported to area hospitals and one person was briefly trapped between the bus and the building on Dudley Street where the crash took place, according to MBTA spokesman Joseph Pesaturo and the Boston Fire Department.

Jennifer Mehigan, spokeswoman for the city's Emergency Medical Services, said in an e-mail that none of the five people sustained serious injuries. Three were taken to Boston Medical Center and two patients were taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital, she said.

Pesaturo said the bus operator, a 13-year veteran who is 39 years old, was taken to Boston Medical Center for examination.

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By Globe Staff

Three suspects burst into a Roxbury apartment this morning in an apparent home invasion, terrorizing a couple and their 10-year-old daughter and making off with $1,800 in cash, police said.

Police spokesman Officer Eddy Chrispin said the suspects accosted a man walking into his apartment about 2:45 a.m. at 25 Dimock St., asked him, "Where is it at?" and held a gun to his head.

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By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

Tito Jackson won a resounding victory today in a special election for the Boston City Council, ushering in a new era for a district plagued by political scandals in the heart of Boston's black community.

Jackson will take the seat held for more than a decade by Chuck Turner, the dedicated but combative community organizer convicted of accepting a $1,000 bribe and thrown out of office in December. Turner is due to report to federal prison on March 25 -- the first day Jackson will be eligible to take the oath of office.

The 35-year-old political operative captured 82 percent of the vote and easily defeated Cornell Mills for the seat representing District 7, which includes Roxbury, Lower Roxbury, and parts of the Fenway, the South End, and Dorchester. Jackson, an unfailing optimist who bought his childhood home on Schuyler Street from his parents, addressed a cheering crowd of supporters last night at Biff's Lounge in Grove Hall.

"I'm just feeling really glad that people are buying into our vision of economic development and jobs and how to rejuvenate our community and are looking forward, not backward," Jackson said tonight. "There's no question that we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, but this is a time for moving forward."

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