BOSTON (WHDH) - Two rival gang members were found guilty of murder Thursday in a 2014 shooting that killed a woman standing along a parade route in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood.
A Suffolk Superior Court jury convicted Keith Williams, 21, and Wesson Colas, 25, on first-degree murder charges, as well as armed assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for the non-fatal shooting of a second woman.
During eight days of testimony, prosecutors explained Colas and Williams were among separate groups that encountered one another in the area of Blue Hill Avenue near McLellan Street along the J’ouvert parade route of Boston’s Caribbean Festival on Aug. 23, 2014.
Colas produced a firearm and began to raise it at the other group, at which point Williams drew his own firearm and fired repeatedly, according to Assistant District Attorney Mark T. Lee.
Williams’ shots missed Colas, hitting 26-year-old Dawnn Jaffier in the head. Investigators say she was standing about a block away when the gunfire erupted. Jaffier was attending the festival with friends. A second victim, 20, was also struck by the gunfire, but survived.
“We learned about Dawnn Jaffier through her family, her friends, and her work in the community,” District Attorney Daniel Conley said. “What we’ve seen is a light that still shines in their hearts and still reflects off the young lives she touched. I only hope that her loved ones can take some satisfaction that justice was done on her behalf.
Though Williams fired the shots that struck Jaffier and the surviving victim, Colas was indicted on a theory of murder adopted by the Commonwealth back in 1997.
Williams and Colas will await sentencing. The attorney’s for both men maintain their innocence.
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