Guilty Verdicts in Shooting that Killed Youth, 17, Outside Dorchester School

BOSTON, June 28, 2018—A Suffolk Superior Court jury today convicted two men of murder in the multiple shooting that killed 17-year-old Raekwon Brown, additionally finding those defendants and a third man guilty of various assault and firearms charges, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

Jurors convicted JADEN WAITERS, 21, of first-degree murder under the theory of deliberate premeditation for his role in Brown’s 2016 homicide near the Jeremiah E. Burke School. Jurors also convicted JONATHAN AGUASVIVAS, 25, of second-degree murder for his role in the same shooting and acquitted BENZY BAIN, 26, of murder charges connected to the homicide. All three were indicted for first-degree murder as joint participants.

Jurors additionally convicted all three defendants of nine indictments each, charging multiple counts of assault and battery by means of a firearm, armed assault with intent to murder, and firearms violations. These charges reflected injuries to or assaults on multiple victims upon whom Waiters fired in a joint venture with Aguasvivas and Bain.

Raekwon Brown, 17, was shot and killed outside his school in 2016. Today, his killers were convicted of murder.

Brown was pronounced dead at the scene. Two other teens at the Washington Street scene, ages 16 and 17, received injuries that were not life-threatening and were transported to area hospitals; two more were not struck but were placed in danger by the defendants’ gunfire.

“At 17, Raekwon Brown’s life was just beginning,” Conley said. “He had everything to look forward, but instead everything was taken from him – and from those who loved him most. I hope his family takes some comfort and satisfaction in the jury’s verdict. It holds all three defendants accountable and makes plain that no motive could possibly justify opening fire on a crowd near a school. This was a very complex case with many moving parts, and I want to thank everyone who played a part in achieving this result – especially the witnesses who stepped forward to tell us what they knew.”

During about two weeks of testimony, Assistant District Attorneys Thomas Flanagan and Ryan Mingo introduced evidence and testimony to prove that the defendants acted in concert on June 8, 2016, when they saw a rival in the crowd near the Burke School at about 1:15 pm. The defendants – in a van whose path was documented by surveillance cameras, cell site location information, and Bain’s court-ordered GPS device – reversed course and stopped to take up a position nearby as Waiters approached the scene on foot and opened fire.

Based on evidence gathered in the hours and days that followed, Boston Police homicide detectives arrested Aguasvivas and Bain on June 22, 2016, and Waiters about a month later. All three were held without bail pending trial; Aguasvivas has since been indicted for first-degree murder in the Feb. 4, 2016, homicide of 22-year-old Marquis Waithe on Brookledge Street in Roxbury.

Erin O’Connor and Anite Cetoute were the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocates. The defendants were represented by Brian Kelley, James Greenberg, and Robert Sheketoff. Judge Jeffrey Locke will sentence them tomorrow morning at 9:00 in courtroom 906 of Suffolk Superior Court.

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