GUILTY MA - Dawnn Jaffier, 26, killed by stray bullet, Dorchester, 23 Aug 2014

Dawnn Jaffier, a Brighton native who officials said was engaged, graduated from UMass Amherst and served with City Year Boston. She was a coach at the Boys and Girls Club.

“Beautiful person, beautiful heart,” said her father. “Always giving to the community.”

In an interview Dawnn Jaffier gave to City Year last year, she said that when she finished City Year she wanted to keep helping young people, so she joined Playworks, which provides programming for elementary schools. She began working at the Hennigan Elementary School, where she was a warm, bright presence.

“She has transformed a school once riddled with behavior issues and bullying into a place of high fives and rock, paper, scissors,” read one glowing, undated write-up on the Playworks website when Jaffier was awarded Coach of the Month.

Click to expand...

Police who were nearby when the shooting occurred chased down the three men and recovered a gun, Merner said. Two of the men were questioned and released, and the third, Keith Williams, 18, of Dorchester, was charged with unlawful posession of a firearm, he said.

Police do not know who pulled the trigger, said Merner.

“This is a very active and fluid and ongoing investigation,” said Merner, who said multiple homicide teams were working on the case. Merner joined the family and other law enforcement officials in asking for help from the public.

Click to expand...

BOSTON (CBS/AP) — An 18-year-old was ordered held without bail Monday afternoon in the murder of a young woman in Dorchester over the weekend.

Keith Williams pleaded not guilty in Dorchester Municipal Court to charges of murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm in the death of 26-year-old Dawnn Jaffier.

Click to expand...

A Suffolk County grand jury returned indictments Friday charging Wesson Colas, 22, of Dorchester, with first-degree murder and armed assault with intent to murder for allegedly pulling a gun out and raising it toward members of a rival group at Blue Hill Avenue and McLellan Street on Aug. 23, 2014... Keith Williams, 18, of Dorchester pulled out his own gun in response and fired at Colas, missing him and hitting two bystanders, including Dawnn Jaffier, who was fatally injured while standing a block away from the incident.

Williams was indicted earlier this year for first-degree murder in Jaffier’s slaying, armed assault with intent to murder for injuring the 20-year-old surviving victim during the same volley of shots and unlawful possession of a firearm...

The grand jury also indicted Jordan Reed, 22, of Randolph, on charges of being an accessory after the fact to Jaffier's murder. Reed is accused of acting with Williams to hide a revolver used in the shootings.

Click to expand...

A tension-filled “stare down” between rivals last summer led to the gunfire that killed a 26-year-old Brighton woman who was an innocent bystander a block away, on her way to the city’s Caribbean festival, police and prosecutors said.

Wesson Colas, 22, pleaded not guilty yesterday in Suffolk Superior Court to first-degree murder and assault charges for allegedly pointing a gun at a group shortly after a confrontation inside a Blue Hill Avenue store on Aug. 23. Once outside, Colas was shot at, and one round fatally struck Dawnn Jaffier in the head, authorities said.

Although Colas did not fire the shot that killed Jaffier, 26, he is facing first-degree murder for inciting the gunplay because he was first to raise a weapon, said Assistant District Attorney Mark Lee.

Click to expand...