BOSTON, April 10, 2018—A fifth participant in the events that led to 22-year-old Joshua Briggs’ homicide last year has been apprehended and arraigned on a murder charge, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

RANDY CANNON, 26, surrendered to Boston Police this morning after they obtained a warrant for his arrest issued on Friday. He was arraigned in Dorchester Municipal Court on one count of murder and three counts each of armed robbery and armed home invasion for allegedly taking part in the robbery that led to Briggs’ Oct. 17, 2017, shooting death at the Holiday Inn Express on Boston Street in Dorchester.

At the request of Assistant District Attorney Thomas Flanagan of the DA’s Homicide Unit, Judge Michael Bolden ordered Cannon held without bail.

Flanagan told the court that Cannon was recently identified in the course of the ongoing investigation into Briggs’ homicide – an investigation that led to similar charges against JAMES COLEMAN, 26; JOHN COLLINS, 24; ERRIN CRAWFORD, Jr., 29; and MICHAEL REYNOLDS, 24. Those four defendants were indicted late last year.

Evidence gathered by Suffolk prosecutors and Boston Police homicide detectives suggests that Briggs and others were inside a room at the hotel on the night of Oct. 16 into the early morning hours of Oct. 17, and that Cannon, Coleman, Collins, and Crawford were also present but were ejected by hotel staff after a fight. The evidence suggests that they returned with Reynolds and forced their way into the room at about 4:15 am; that at least two of the defendants were armed with a firearm; and that this fact was known to all of the defendants. The evidence further suggests that all five men took part in the robbery of cash, jewelry, and firearms that they knew to be in the hotel room. Briggs suffered a fatal gunshot wound during the incident and was later pronounced dead at the scene.

The totality of facts and evidence suggest that – armed or unarmed – the defendants acted with a specific intent to cause death or serious injury or took part in an action that carried a clear risk of death or serious injury, prosecutors said.
Cannon was represented by attorney Asha White. He will return to court on May 17.

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