A grand jury indicted Donte Henley, 24, and Josiah Zachery, 18, for first-degree murder in the February death of 21-year-old Kenneth Lamour, who was shot in the head as he shoveled snow with a non-profit work crew in Jamaica Plain.
The Suffolk County grand jury also indicted Zachery for armed assault with intent to murder and unlawful possession of a firearm for allegedly firing at a Boston Police officer while fleeing the scene, according to a press release from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
Henley, of South Boston, was working alongside Lamour, a Roslindale resident, on the morning of February 11, as a member of a work crew organized by Roca Inc, when he allegedly contacted Zachery, of Hyde Park, by text to orchestrate Lamour’s murder.
Prosecutors allege that Zachery, carrying a large-caliber handgun Henley had told him to bring, approached Lamour as he was shoveling snow on Centre Street, raising the weapon and fatally shooting Lamour in the head. Zachery has never been involved with Roca, according to the organization.
Attempting to flee, Zachery encountered a Boston police officer who had stopped his car after hearing gunshots.
According to Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum, the officer took cover behind his vehicle after Zachery pointed the gun at him and then gave chase as the suspect ran.
Zachery, pointing the gun behind him, fired at least two shots, missing the officer both times. Cutting down a side-street, Zachery disposed of his black jacket and returned to Centre Street, carrying a black-and-yellow shovel stolen from the house where he had left both the jacket and a trail of footprints. When police followed the tracks and apprehended him, Zachery claimed he had been using the shovel to clear snow in multiple neighborhoods, according to the Boston Globe. Police later recovered the handgun from the roof of a neighboring garage.
Henley, who has a criminal record and has been jailed in the past, was arrested approximately two weeks into the investigation, after detectives uncovered a series of calls and text messages between him and Zachery.
One message read, “It’s me or him and I’m not going,” according to the Boston Globe.
“Mr. Henley essentially called in the hit,” Polumbaum said, telling Zachery to bring a gun and describing the clothes Lamour was wearing.
Though he did not pull the trigger, Henley can be charged with first-degree murder alongside Zachery under the theory of joint venture.
Superior Court arraignments have not yet been scheduled for the pair, who are currently being held without bail.
