This time it was not a post office or in the city of Boston. It was a Cambridge supply company where two employees did not get along. Clyde H. 65, of Brookline (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) is now accused ending the feud by killing his adversary, Marurice R, 33, (hereinafter, the “Victim”). At arraignment today, somebody ought to tell his attorney not to argue with his new client, just in case he is not one of our daily readers.
It was the first homicide in Cambridge in more than a year.
The shooting took place yesterday morning at the Baystate Pool Supplies complex on Smith Street. Co-workers watched in horror as the Defendant allegedly gunned down the Victim at the complex. chasing him outside to finish him off, authorities said. While the reason for the dispute remains unknown, police say that the two had been arguing for months.
“There was an ongoing dispute between the two employees,” said Middlesex District Attorney Gerard Leone at a press conference at the Cambridge Police Department. “The dispute unfortunately resulted in this tragic death.”
The Defendant allegedly used a handgun to blast the Victim once inside the building, then chased him outside and shot him multiple times, including at least once in the head and torso, authorities said.
Leone said employees at the Cambridge business tried in vain to stop the carnage and told investigators that tension between the two began two months ago when the pair had a verbal confrontation. That hostility erupted into violence yesterday when the Defendant, a custodian at the Smith Place business, pulled a gun on the Victim, a machinist.
The Victim died at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston at about 11:06 a.m.
“We are devastated by this tragedy and wish to express our sincere sympathy to the family of our valued employee,” the company said in a statement. “. . . We are fully cooperating with authorities as they investigate this terrible situation”, said company spokeswoman Nancy Sterling. The company, which has offices throughout New England, said it is providing counseling for the Victim’s family and employees, some of whom tried to break up the fight.
The police had issued an urgent appeal for help in catching the Defendant, who was considered “armed and dangerous” and seen fleeing the shooting scene in a white 1999 Ford van.
He was found in the van by Boston police about 4:20 p.m. yesterday on Harrishof Street in Roxbury. It is unknown if the weapon was recovered.
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Cambridge police, Boston police and Massachusetts State Police were all involved in snaring the Defendant. He has been charged with murder and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition and is scheduled to be arraigned at Cambridge District Court today.
Attorney Sam’s Take:
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a blog about a multiple homicide and rape matter playing out in Brockton. That case had a few additional elements, such as racial hatred and rape. However, I opined that there might be an issue of the defendant’s competency. This turned out to be the case.
I think we have another one here.
In this case, the homicide was witnessed by multiple people. Further, these were not multiple people who did not know, and so had to identify, the shooter. It would appear an eyewitness/wrong identification defense is not likely to be too successful here. There also does not seem to be much of an issue of self-defense present in this case. Accidental shooting? Not too likely.
Most “normal” people do not resolve their arguments by gunfire. So, expect some kind of insanity defense in this case.
There is an interesting wrinkle if that is the defense, though. Did the Defendant always carry a gun? If not, then we have evidence of this murder being premeditated which would, among other things, cut against the defense that he simply “lost it”.
Some of you may be wondering how the Defendant can be charged with the possession of the gun if the weapon is not recovered. The issue regarding firearms is usually whether the item is an actual working gun. In this case, it is all too painfully obvious that the gun worked…it shot the Victim, killing him.
The full articles of this story can be found at http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1148528 and http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/01/29/man_shot_to_death_co_worker_arrested/