The trial of a Dorchester man charged with shooting George “Jeffrey” Thompson to death inside the his Rosseter Street apartment last year got under way with lawyers’ opening statements this morning.

When police officers and emergency personnel entered the victim’s apartment following his Jan. 7, 2010, homicide, Assistant District Attorney Gretchen Lundgren said, “They found Mr. Thompson’s lifeless body face down in the kitchen with a gunshot to the back of the head and blood seeping from his torso.”

In addition to a first-degree murder charge for Thompson’s death, OMAY TAVARES (D.O.B. 4/24/89) is also charged with unlawful possession of a firearm as a subsequent offense, carrying a loaded firearm, and two counts of unlawful possession of ammunition.

On the evening of the shooting, Lundgren said, Tavares called Thompson multiple times on his cell phone before heading over to the victim’s apartment. A friend who had been visiting Thompson was exiting the apartment when Tavares arrived.

“I’m ‘O’,” Tavares allegedly said in reference to his nickname, and indicated that he was there to see Thompson. The witness left and Tavares went into the apartment. Thompson then led Tavares into the kitchen, the prosecutor said.

“But they weren’t alone in the apartment,” Lundgren said, “tucked away, in the living room was [a witness]. And just a few minutes after ‘O’ entered the apartment, she heard voices getting louder in the kitchen. As she stepped out of the living room and took a look to see what was going on, she saw ‘O’ pull out a black handgun from his waist area and point it at Mr. Thompson, who was unarmed.”

The terrified witness turned to the front door “until she was ordered to stop by ‘O’”, Lundgren said. “And when she turned around, she realized that that black gun was now leveled at her.”
In a panic, the witness went to the rear of the apartment and was able to escape through sliding glass doors that led outside. Just after she made it outside, Lundgren said, “she heard several shots go off.”

In a matter of minutes, Lundgren said, the Boston Police and emergency medical personnel arrived on the scene.

“But given the devastating injuries to Mr. Thompson’s body – the devastating injuries to nearly every major organ – there was simply no way that he could survive that attack.” The kitchen and hallway were littered with shell casings and bullet fragments.

Tavares left behind several pieces of evidence, Lundgren told the court, including the cell phone records that showed that he made numerous phone calls to the victim that day and cell phone tower records that placed him in the area of 87 Rosseter St.

“They place him in the area just five minutes before the first 911 call came in,” Lundgren said. “He left behind evidence of his nickname, ‘O’. He left behind two people who were able to describe his physical appearance. And, ladies and gentleman, he left behind his fingerprint on the doorknob to Mr. Thompson’s apartment.”

The day after the murder, on Jan. 8, Tavares “ditched” the cell phone that he had used to call Thompson the day before and got a new phone number, Lundgren said. On Jan. 15, he was placed under arrest. Lundgren said that in a taped statement with Boston Police homicide detectives, Tavares “claimed that he hadn’t seen Mr. Thompson in months. He claimed he hadn’t spoken with Mr. Thompson in weeks.” He also denied that anybody called him by the nickname, ‘O’.
“The evidence shows a series of decisions made by the defendant to murder George Thompson and cover up that murder; it’s a series of intentional acts by the defendant.”

Katherine Moran is the victim-witness advocate assigned to the case. Tavares was represented by attorney John Himmelstein. Proceedings are before Judge Christine McEvoy in courtroom 808 of Suffolk Superior Court.