BOSTON, Sept. 4, 2014—Observant Boston Police officers may have prevented a shooting when they spotted a man who may have been involved in a fistfight reaching for something in his waistband while staring intently at a stopped car, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

MARCUS JONES (D.O.B. 9/20/91) of Mattapan was arraigned in Dorchester District Court Tuesday on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and carrying a loaded firearm.  He was additionally charged as a Level II armed career criminal based on a prior adjudication of delinquency on a juvenile case charging assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Assistant District Attorney William Kettlewell requested that Jones be held on $35,000 bail and that he be ordered to wear a GPS devise, abide by a curfew, and stay away from the area of his arrest in the event that he is released on bail.  Judge Jonathan Tynes imposed $25,000 bail and granted the requested conditions of release.

According to prosecutors, Boston Police officers were on patrol in the area of Wilcock Street and Blue Hill Avenue at approximately 1:50 Tuesday morning when they observed a man later identified as Jones sitting on a bicycle wearing a sweatshirt with its hood pulled up on the humid, 74-degree night.  Just 10 minutes earlier, officers had received a radio transmission that a suspect on a bicycle had fled the scene of a fight in the area; the victim in the altercation suffered severe facial injuries.

Jones’ attention was fixed on a sedan that was stopped on Blue Hill Avenue; at that time he pulled his hood further over his face and appeared to reach for an object on the left side of his waist, prosecutors said.  Based on their training and experience, officers believed that he may have been reaching for a firearm.

Officers turned their unmarked cruiser around and approached Jones, who at that time was peddling away as the car that had drawn his attention drove in the opposite direction, prosecutors said.  Officers stopped Jones and discovered he had a Kel-Tek 9mm semiautomatic handgun tucked into the left side of his waistband under his sweatshirt, prosecutors said.  The firearm was loaded with six rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber, and an additional five rounds of live ammunition were found in Jones’ pocket, prosecutors said.

“Given the totality of the circumstances, these officers may well have stopped a shooting before it happened,” Conley said. “Their extensive training, sharp eyes, and decisive action didn’t just take a weapon off of Boston’s streets – they may have saved a life.”

Jones, who was also cited for carrying less than one ounce of marijuana, was represented by attorney John MacLachlan.  He will return to court Oct. 16.

–30–

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