A 19-year-old Boston man accused of opening fire during a backyard fight in Mattapan this summer is now facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of Jose Dantes, 26, of Brockton. Cerrone Wilcox Buford appeared in Suffolk Superior Court this week, where a judge ordered him held without bail on the murder count along with related assault and gun charges.
The shooting happened around 1:45 a.m. on June 27, when Boston Police responded to a report of a person shot and found five people with gunshot wounds, according to boston.com. Dantes was pronounced dead at the scene, while four others were injured. Accounts differ on the exact address: MassLive reported the fight began in the backyard of a home at 1460 Blue Hill Avenue, while a separate report from Yahoo News placed the shooting near 1447 Blue Hill Avenue.
Prosecutors allege the violence started as a backyard fight before spilling into public view. Per NBC Boston, the altercation began in the backyard of a home near Almont Street and then moved to the sidewalk outside the house. Footage reviewed by investigators allegedly shows Wilcox Buford pulling a gun from a bag and aiming it at Dantes, who was fatally shot in the head and died from his injuries, according to the station.
A Monthslong Path to a Murder Charge
Wilcox Buford's arrest did not happen right away. He was wanted on a charge of assault to murder as of July 1, and investigators eventually tracked him down in Jamaica Plain, where the U.S. Marshals Service assisted in taking him into custody, NBC Boston reports. At his July 10 arraignment, Wilcox Buford pleaded not guilty and was held on $1 million bail, according to the same boston.com report cited above.
That changed this week. The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office reported that Wilcox Buford now faces first-degree murder along with armed assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, as well as several illegal gun charges, per MassLive's account of the proceedings. A Suffolk Superior Court judge has since ordered him held without bail.
Three Others Already Charged, One Still Wanted
Wilcox Buford is not the only person facing charges tied to the shooting — he is the fourth person charged in the case and the first to face a murder count, the station's report notes. NBC Boston reports that three of the people injured in the shooting have themselves been charged in the case, while one injured person remained at large as of Wednesday.
The case is still working its way through the courts. Wilcox Buford and the other defendants charged in the shooting are due back in Suffolk Superior Court on November 3 for a pretrial hearing, per the same MassLive account.
