Two teenagers, 16-year-old Dushawn Taylor-Gannis and an unidentified 14-year-old, were arrested Saturday for the death of Jonathan Dos Santos, who was reportedly ambushed and shot to death while riding his bike on Fuller Street in Dorchester, Boston Police and the Suffolk Country District Attorney’s office announced.
According to a DA press release, Taylor-Gannis and the 14-year-old will be arraigned Monday in Dos Santos’ death for murder and unlawful firearm possession.
“In an abundance of caution given his age, authorities are withholding the 14-year-old juvenile’s name until a criminal complaint issues on Monday morning,” the DA’s office said in the release. “Under Massachusetts law, juveniles charged with murder are exposed to the same penalties as adults and their cases are open to the public.”
Multiple news vans were stationed outside the Boston Police Department this afternoon, as both Mayor Marty Walsh and Boston Police Commissioner William Evans announced their arrests in a joint press conference.
BPD Commissioner William Evans (left) and Mayor Marty Walsh (middle, in blue) announcing the two arrests in the murder of Jonathan Dos Santos. (BPD photo)
“I want to recognize the tremendous work done by the men and women of the Boston Police Homicide Unit that led to the arrest of two suspects within four days of the incident,” Evans said. “We asked community members to step up and help us identify those responsible for this senseless murder and they did. And, for their help, we are grateful.”
According to the Boston Globe, the arrests came about due to witness testimony, surveillance footage and help from unlikely sources, the teenagers’ mothers:
Police had a good idea who fired the shots that killed 16-year-old Jonathan Dos Santos as he rode his bicycle down Fuller Street Wednesday evening, heading for his aunt’s.
The likely killers had been anything but careful, staging the ambush during daylight hours in full view of horrified neighbors. The incident was also captured on surveillance video.
The challenge was how to safely bring in the very young suspects — one of them just 14 — and to arrest them without risking harm to the boys or to officers or triggering further violence in an already fraught neighborhood.
So police turned to the boys’ mothers, and their mothers turned them in.
NECN is reporting that a fundraiser has been set in memory of Dos Santos, who was a student at McKinley Preparatory High School.
Jonathan Dos Santos (family photo)
According to a June 11 article in the Boston Globe, Dos Santos had confided just two months prior to his June 10 murder his reluctance to join a gang under pressure from his peers, and was worried about his decision’s fallout.
In addition to his parents, the Globe talked to Dos Santos’ 9-year-old sister, Jennifer Dos Santos, who recounted her relationship with her brother, and how he served as her protector.
The DA’s full press release follows:
The two teens arrested today in connection with the June 10 shooting death of 16-year-old Jonathan Dos Santos are expected to be arraigned Monday in Dorchester Municipal Court on murder and firearms offenses. Under Massachusetts law, juveniles charged with murder are exposed to the same penalties as adults and their cases are open to the public. The older of the two is identified as DUSHAWN TAYLOR-GENNIS, 16, of Dorchester. In an abundance of caution given his age, authorities are withholding the 14-year-old juvenile’s name until a criminal complaint issues on Monday morning. Additional details are expected at arraignment.
