Boston police say a 16-year-old boy was arrested Tuesday afternoon after officers found a loaded handgun on him as he left Community Academy in Jamaica Plain. According to police, the teen took off on foot when officers approached, ditching his backpack and tossing a gun under an SUV at Washington Street and Glen Road before he was taken into custody outside 3368 Washington Street. The weapon recovered at the scene was identified as a Smith & Wesson SD9 with one round in the chamber and another in the magazine.
Members of the Boston Police Department’s Youth Violence Strike Force had already been looking into the teen, following up on a tip that he was armed near Community Academy at 25 Glen Road, The Boston Globe reported. Officers told the Globe they watched him leave the school around 2:10 p.m. and decided to stop him after noticing what they believed was behavior consistent with trying to hide a gun.
In a police statement quoted by the Globe, “the juvenile then lifted his hoodie, allowing the officer to clearly observe a semiautomatic firearm tucked into his waistband.” At that point, officers say, he bolted, jumped several Jersey barriers and threw the gun under a parked SUV before being caught. Police recovered the Smith & Wesson SD9, and the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services issued a detainer. According to the Globe, the teen is expected to be arraigned in West Roxbury District Juvenile Court on four delinquency complaints: possession of a gun without a license, carrying a loaded firearm, possession of ammunition without a firearms identification card and possession of a large-capacity feeding device.
Detainer and What It Means
The detainer from the state’s Department of Youth Services means the juvenile can be held while the court sorts out pretrial custody and services. The agency outlines how detainers and pretrial custody decisions work on its website, the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services.
Police Activity and Neighborhood Context
Boston Police say they have ramped up targeted enforcement in Jamaica Plain this spring through the Youth Violence Strike Force, which has logged several firearm recoveries in recent weeks. Those operations are detailed on the department’s YVSF page. Local outlets, including coverage of a teen nabbed in fentanyl and gun bust in Jamaica Plain and reporting by Boston 25, have tracked similar juvenile firearm arrests in the neighborhood.
