BOSTON, Dec. 28, 2017—A Suffolk Superior Court jury today convicted two rivals of all charges in the shooting death of 26-year-old Dawnn Jaffier as she stood along a Dorchester parade route in 2014, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

Jurors convicted WESSON COLAS (D.O.B. 5/25/92) and KEITH WILLIAMS (D.O.B. 7/13/96) of first-degree murder under the theory of deliberate premeditation for their roles in Jaffier’s Aug. 23, 2014, homicide, 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, then 20, a few blocks away. Williams was additionally convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm.

Two men were found guilty of first-degree murder today in the 2014 shooting death of 26-year-old Dawnn Jaffier as she stood along a parade route in Dorchester.

Assistant District Attorney Mark T. Lee, chief of the DA’s Senior Trial Unit, proved during about eight days of testimony that 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. Colas produced a firearm and began to raise it at the other group, at which point Williams drew his own firearm and fired repeatedly.

One of those shots struck Jaffier as she stood about a block away near the intersection of Blue Hill Avenue and Charlotte Street. Another struck the surviving victim, who was about three blocks south at American Legion Highway.

“We learned about Dawnn Jaffier through her family, her friends, and her work in the community,” 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. This jury worked for almost five days to find the facts, apply the law, and reach this just result. We are grateful to them, to the court, and to the prosecutors, police detectives, and victim advocates who have dedicated themselves to the case since day one.”

Though Williams fired the shots that struck Jaffier and the surviving victim, Colas was indicted on a theory of murder adopted by the Supreme Judicial Court’s 1997 decision in Commonwealth v. Felix Santiago, which held that “Where the defendant chooses to engage in a gun battle with another with the intent to kill or do grievous bodily harm and a third party is killed, the defendant may be held liable for the homicide even if it was the defendant’s opponent who fired the fatal shot.”

That theory was used in the Suffolk County murder trials of MANUEL ANDRADE for the 2007 homicide of Chiara Levin in Dorchester and KEVIN LOUIS for the 2008 homicide of Roniel Marc in Hyde Park for their roles in gunfights that killed unintended targets..

A third man, JORDAN REED (D.O.B. 9/5/92) of Randolph, was charged as an accessory after the fact to Jaffier’s murder for allegedly hiding the .357 caliber revolver used in the shootings shortly after the incident. He died unexpectedly while the case was pending; his death is not considered suspicious.

Elise McConnell was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Colas was represented by attorney Peter Marano and Williams by attorney John Galvin. Both defendants face life sentences at a hearing scheduled for Jan. 8.

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