$25k Bail after Dorchester Man’s 2nd Gun Arrest

BOSTON, Dec. 29, 2014—A Dorchester man on probation for unlawfully possessing a firearm was held on high bail after his arraignment on a new gun case, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

DAQUANE MITCHELL (D.O.B. 4/6/90) was arraigned today in Roxbury Municipal Court on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm as a second offense, unlawful possession of ammunition as a second offense, and trespassing. Mitchell was additionally charged as an armed career criminal in light of his conviction in a 2011 shooting on Humboldt Avenue. He served a three-year state prison sentence for armed assault with intent to murder in that case and is currently on probation for unlawful possession of a firearm.

Assistant District Attorney Caitlin Fitzgerald recommended that he be held on $50,000 cash bail and be ordered to stay away from Homestead Street. Judge David Weingarten set bail at $25,000 and ordered that he stay away from 115 Homestead St., the scene of his arrest.

Boston Police on directed patrol yesterday evening in the area of a Christmas night shooting on Homestead Street observed Mitchell and another man walking toward their unmarked cruiser. When the pair noticed the cruiser, they abruptly reversed direction. A short time later, they headed again toward the officers before separating. One headed in the direction of 104 Homestead St. and the other – later identified as Mitchell – continued toward the officers.

When one officer tried to engage Mitchell in a brief conversation as he had with others in the area a short time earlier, Mitchell allegedly turned and bolted toward Humboldt Avenue. Officers gave chase and noticed that Mitchell was holding his left arm close to his body in a manner they recognized from their training as consistent with a handgun stowed in his waistband.

Mitchell scaled a fence, tangling himself momentarily in barbed wire at its top. He freed himself from the barbed wire, fell to the ground, and lost the officers. Additional Boston Police officers responded to the scene, assisted in the search, and apprehended Mitchell inside 115 Homestead St.

Mitchell was unarmed when officers pat-frisked him, but a Boston Police K-9 unit alerted on a .40 caliber Star Interarms semiautomatic handgun loaded with six rounds of ammunition along his path of flight. Police deployed a thermal imaging device on the firearm, which revealed it to be much warmer than the ground around it – strongly suggesting that it had been recently discarded.

Also arraigned on gun charges today was KENLOY McTAGGART (D.O.B. 11/7/56) of Dorchester, held on $5,000 cash bail in a Dorchester Municipal Court case charging him with unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.

Boston Police were flagged down on Friday by an unidentified person who pointed out a silver sport-utility vehicle and said the operator had pointed a gun at the person. Officers pursued the vehicle and stopped it on Alpha Road. McTaggart, who was driving, first denied that he had a gun. In a post-Miranda statement, however, he allegedly admitted that he had tossed a gun from the vehicle – but only after he was involved in a “road rage incident” with a stranger who threw the gun into his vehicle.

Boston Police recovered a Paramount .32 caliber handgun on Park Street along McTaggart’s route after a witness directed them to its presence and said a man had discarded it from a vehicle.

Mitchell will return to Roxbury court on Jan. 16. McTaggart will return to Dorchester court on Jan. 27.

 

 

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.