A late Wednesday night search on Peckham Street ended with a 25-year-old man in cuffs, a loaded handgun off the street, and what police are calling a substantial stash of fentanyl and cocaine.
Fall River police say their Community Action & Suppression Team, backed up by the Emergency Services Unit, hit a third-floor apartment on March 4 under a court-approved search warrant and arrested Jayden Smith. According to a March 6 post from the City of Fall River Police Department, officers took Smith into custody without incident and later listed a stack of charges, including carrying a loaded firearm without a license (second offense), possession of a large-capacity firearm and feeding device, trafficking in fentanyl in an amount of 18 grams or more, possession with intent to distribute a Class B substance, and a community parole supervision violation.
Detectives reported that during the operation, items were thrown from the third-floor unit. Police say they recovered a Glock 43x 9mm handgun with an extended magazine loaded with 19 rounds, along with a satchel that contained 24.16 grams of fentanyl and 7.68 grams of cocaine. In the same post, Fall River police allege that Smith had been selling illegal narcotics and had made threats toward law enforcement.
Suspect's prior case
Smith has appeared in local crime coverage before. In 2016, he was arrested as a teenager in connection with the July 2016 fatal shooting of Jerrod Cohen and was placed on the state most-wanted list at the time. As reported by CBS Boston, he was located and arrested in October 2016 after spending months at large.
What police say they recovered
In their Facebook account of the Peckham Street operation, Fall River police say the firearm they pulled from outside the building was a Glock 43x 9mm equipped with an extended magazine that held 19 rounds. Detectives also reported recovering a satchel with two separate quantities of illegal narcotics, specifically 24.16 grams of fentanyl and 7.68 grams of cocaine. Those weights, according to the department, are what underlie the fentanyl trafficking charge and the possession with intent to distribute a Class B substance count.
Police say Smith was taken into custody without incident and that the warrant service by CAST followed investigative leads tied to alleged drug sales.
Legal consequences
Massachusetts law does not treat this kind of combination lightly. Under G.L. c.94C §32E, trafficking offenses carry mandatory minimum prison terms once certain weight thresholds are crossed, and trafficking 18 grams or more of a Class A opioid can trigger multi-year mandatory sentences. Firearm charges such as possessing or carrying a loaded gun without the proper license fall under G.L. c.269 §10 and come with their own mix of mandatory and discretionary penalties.
Taken together, the trafficking-level quantity of fentanyl that police describe and the reported loaded firearm mean Smith could face significant state prison exposure if he is convicted, subject to the usual due-process protections, defense strategy, and any plea negotiations.
Local enforcement context
CAST has become a regular feature of Fall River’s approach to narcotics and gun enforcement, with multi-unit warrants used in a series of recent investigations. Regional coverage has highlighted similar coordinated raids in the city in recent years, including a January 2025 operation that involved CAST and turned up a handgun and suspected narcotics. Reporting by WBSM notes that these kinds of joint search-warrant operations are part of an ongoing pattern of enforcement in Fall River and surrounding SouthCoast communities.
Fall River police say Smith remains in custody. The department’s social media post did not list his arraignment date or future court appearances. Investigators are asking anyone with information to contact Fall River police through their non-emergency channels.
