2 men rob Fenway taxi company at gunpoint
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One of the men who allegedly robbed a Fenway taxi company at gunpoint yesterday morning and pistol-whipped a dispatcher was released from state prison only a few months ago after serving a sentence for the Blizzard of ’78 murder of an oil deliveryman in Roxbury.
Gerald Hill, 47, of Dorchester, was 15 years old when he and two other men were convicted of killing a 64-year-old man from Randolph who was making emergency deliveries during the storm. The killing shattered a community still recovering at the time from the devastating storm.
Hill, convicted as a minor and at the time from Roxbury, was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.
The shooter, Hubert Lee Smith, 21, was convicted of first-degree murder.
Hill was arrested yesterday after he and another man allegedly entered the Boston Cab Dispatch on Kilmarnock Street with masks on, pistol-whipped a dispatcher, and fled.
“Two guys rushed in and robbed us, hit one of my dispatchers over the head with a gun, and took off running,’’ said Armen Mahferejian, 42, general manager of Boston Cab Dispatch. “They cracked his head open.’’
The injured dispatcher was treated for minor injuries.
A police officer nearby arrested Hill.
He was charged with armed robbery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and unlawful possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. He is expected to be arraigned today in Roxbury District Court.
The other robbery suspect remains at large.
Police recovered two guns at the scene, as well as a “bag of cash’’ that the company’s owner was told to pick up at the police station, said Mahferejian.
The two men, wearing hosiery and scarves over their faces, burst into the office at about 10 a.m. and pointed pistols at the four employees, ordering them to the ground, Mahferejian said.
Jean, a cab driver who did not want his last name used, said some drivers drop off larger cash sums after leasing the vehicles for a week.
“Somebody must have known it was only cash there,’’ Jean said.
Fekadu Reggasa, 29, a Boston Cab driver, said he usually turns in around $100 to the dispatch after each shift. Reggasa said about 200 other cab drivers do the same.
Globe correspondent Abbie Ruzicka contributed to this report. 