Boston, MA: 8 year old boy accidentally killed by his 7 year old cousin

Mayor eyes new curb on gun-law violators
Would suspend driving rights

By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff | January 8, 2007

Mayor Thomas M. Menino wants the state to suspend driver's licenses and revoke the vehicle registrations of individuals convicted of firearms violations in Massachusetts and to list the charges on driving records available to police during traffic stops.

In a measure he plans to introduce today on Beacon Hill, the mayor is proposing that licenses be suspended and registrations revoked, without a hearing, for up to five years for crimes such as illegal possession of a gun or selling guns without a license. Menino administration officials say such a law could help stem gun crimes and warn police pulling over cars that the drivers may be carrying guns. Authorities have said many of those arrested for firearms offenses are repeat offenders.

At the top of Menino's agenda this year is reducing violent crime, Joyce said. Boston logged 74 homicides last year, 54 of them shootings. There were 51 fatal shootings the year before, when the city had 75 homicides, a 10-year high.

State law currently allows the Registry of Motor Vehicles to suspend driver's licenses and revoke registrations of people convicted of drug charges and of convicted sex offenders who do not register with the state. The mayor's proposed bill would also allow the state to revoke registrations and suspend licenses of people convicted of gun offenses. If the offenders are under 18, their licenses would be suspended and registrations revoked until they turn 21.

Notices of convictions would be transmitted by criminal courts to the registry, which would revoke the registration of any vehicle registered to offenders, suspend offenders' licenses, and list the convictions on offenders' driving records, under Menino's proposal. It is unclear how long the convictions would be listed.

Chapter 140: Section 128B. Unauthorized purchase of firearms; report to commissioner; penalties

Section 128B. Any resident of the commonwealth who purchases or obtains a firearm, rifle or shotgun or machine gun from any source within or without the commonwealth, other than from a licensee under section one hundred and twenty-two or a person authorized to sell firearms under section one hundred and twenty-eight A, and any nonresident of the commonwealth who purchases or obtains a firearm, rifle, shotgun or machine gun from any source within or without the commonwealth, other than such a licensee or person, and receives such firearm, rifle, shotgun or machine gun, within the commonwealth shall within seven days after receiving such firearm, rifle, shotgun or machine gun, report, in writing, to the executive director of the criminal history systems board the name and address of the seller or donor and the buyer or donee, together with a complete description of the firearm, rifle, shotgun or machine gun, including the caliber, make and serial number. Whoever violates any provision of this section shall for the first offense be punished by a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $1,000 and for any subsequent offense by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than ten years.

Amid the sadness, officials and court records painted a picture of a family all too familiar with violence, with Liquarry's father behind bars, his mother with a criminal past, and an older half- brother shot three years ago.

Liquarry's father, also named Liquarry Jefferson, was sentenced last fall to four years in state prison for a string of armed robberies in various parts of the city, according to court records and a spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney's office. He was convicted of manslaughter in 1998 in the stabbing death of a Boston man.

The dead boy's mother, Lakeisha Gadson, 30, has four other children. At least one of the fathers has a lengthy criminal history, officials said. Gadson has a record involving multiple assaults, court records show.

She was placed on probation after admitting to attacking a woman in March 2004. The altercation started when Gadson and others made fun of the woman's developmentally disabled son, and she came to his defense, court records indicate.

In August 2003, Gadson was arrested for allegedly attacking Boston police officers on Columbia Road during an altercation that began when officers told Gadson and others sitting on the steps of her apartment building that the property manager's rules banned anyone from sitting on the steps. Gadson pleaded guilty in 2005 and was given a suspended six-month sentence in the Suffolk County House of Correction, records show.

In September 2001, Gadson and three other women stormed into a Burger King on Washington Street and assaulted the staff with a broomstick after they were told they had to use the drive-through a second time to order more food, court records show. The outcome of that case was not available yesterday.

The dead boy's 15-year-old half-brother, Jayquan McConnico, is under supervision of the Department of Youth Services and, according to press reports, was shot in 2004.

The second law enforcement official said police were also looking at Gadson's relationship with Renardo Williams, who is the father of at least one of her children. He is a longtime Castlegate gang member acquitted last year of a double slaying.

Half brother may be gun owner, police say
Teenager a focus in fatal shooting

Boston police focused yesterday on a teenage half brother as the possible owner of the illegal handgun that killed 8-year-old Liquarry Jefferson and also questioned family members, including the 7-year-old cousin they believe fired the fatal shot while playing.

Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said Jayquan McConnico, 15, may be taken into custody by the state Department of Youth Services for illegal activity. Davis would not elaborate, but a police official with knowledge of the investigation said police are looking closely at McConnico, in part because Liquarry was shot in the teenager's bedroom.

Another police official said McConnico has told detectives he handled the gun after the shooting. The 9mm semiautomatic was found hidden in a stairwell of the Roxbury apartment building.

Police intelligence documents from 2005 and last year, obtained by the Globe, say that McConnico is an associate of the MIC gang and has a firearm-arrest history.

In September 2005, he was arrested near Intervale Street for possessing a loaded handgun, the documents say. He was 13 at the time. McConnico is currently under DYS supervision.

Mayor Menino’s Statement Regarding Illegal Guns

“As co-chairs of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Mayor Bloomberg and I have tirelessly fought for more than a year to get Washington leaders to reject the Tiahrt Amendments. We know the devastating impact illegal guns have in our neighborhoods and on our streets. Today, in response to yesterday’s tragic events that left one young child dead and another with life long mental scars, I have sent a letter to the leadership in the House and Senate again calling for more access to gun trace data. Right now our police officers are hampered by the restrictions imposed by the Tiahrt amendment to get access to gun data from the ATF for firearms recovered on our streets. This is blocking police from properly doing their job and finding out who may be selling these guns that end up in urban communities across the country.

Call for Tougher Gun Control

BOSTON, Mass. - June 27, 2007 - The investigation continues into the accidental death of eight-year-old Laquarry Jefferson by his seven-year-old cousin.

The two boys were playing with an illegal gun in their Roxbury home when the shooting happened on Sunday night. Police have since questioned the cousin and his mother.

In the wake of the incident, Boston leaders are calling for tougher gun control laws.